The Sky Belongs to Us
by decorusvita
Summary: Contractors: rational and efficient killers that are said to harbor no emotions, their 'loyalty and comradeship' only lasting as long as it's of benefit to them. However, that theory is put to the test when a certain Italian comes into the picture. CURRENTLY RE-EDITING/POLISHING UP THIS STORY BEFORE THE NEW CHAPTER IS ADDED. PLOT WILL REMAIN THE SAME THOUGH! [HIATUS]
1. The Sky Belongs to Us

**Warning(s): **Graphic depictions of violence, strong/explicit language, and possible explicit sexy times in the future (no promises though).**  
**

**A/N (please read):** Just to make it clear: though this story takes place in the Darker Than Black universe, the characters will _not_ be meeting Hei, Yin, etc., nor will it in someway follow the anime's plot. Although there will be some influences from the anime here and there, it won't be much. That, and only the concepts of Contractors, Obeisance (a.k.a Contracts, which is what they'll be called in this story to make it less complicated), Regressors, and Moratoriums will be used (as I've decided that for those who haven't watched the anime, including Dolls to that list would've been too confusing and frankly, unnecessary).

* * *

**The Sky Belongs to Us  
**

The man in front of me is squirming in his chair, trying to free himself from his restraints. Hand shaped third-degree burns litter his exposed arms and chest, the restraining ropes cutting deeper into his skin the more he struggles, his blood now seeping through the ropes. I sigh as I look at the pudgy old thing. Couldn't this human comprehend that he was only making it worse for himself?

"Please! I'm beg-"

Dios mío, how I _hate _beggars...which is exactly why I don't even let him finish. His entire body becomes engulfed in flames before he can even finish uttering his pathetic plea, his screams echoing all around the deserted warehouse, the beautiful sounds not being able to reach a proper audience. I watch his flesh quickly crackle and turn black, the smell of burning flesh now pungent in the air. Reveling in the smell, I deeply inhale it with each breath I take.

It's marvelous...truly marvelous.

"Mon ami, don't you think you went a bit too far? We might've been able to get more information out of him."

I turn my head around to see my partner lighting a cigarette, his blue eyes watching me in what looks to be amusement. With a laugh I turn back to look at my masterpiece, watching as its skin begin to turn to ash and flake off.

"No...there was nothing else that we didn't already know. This was simply to verify the information that Prussia found and to give them a message from our superiors." My partner sighs half-heartedly before the sound of his footsteps can be heard, each step coming closer to me until they stop right next to me. Though I feel his presence, I don't bother to turn and look at him. A funny thought enters my mind though and I smile, immediately voicing it to him.

"Aren't you afraid of getting your pretty suit dirty, France?" I ask lightly.

I smile widely when I hear him respond with a laugh, before finally turning to face him. He's wearing a very expensive (at least that's what he told me) white suit, with a bright purple dress shirt underneath. Like always, the shirt has about three buttons open in order to show off a portion of his chest. His blond hair is a bit longer in length and he keeps some scruff on his chin. Something about how the men and women love the look, and how he always needed to be prepared for "l'amour." It doesn't make any sense to me but it doesn't matter, so long as his clothes don't compromise the Mission. He could be naked for all I care.

"Like what you see, mon ami?" he asks with a devilish smile on his lips. There's a glint of something else in his eyes but I don't bother to think twice about it. I'm long used to it by now. For some reason he always looks at me like that.

Suddenly, my chest starts to tighten and my mouth waters. Knowing that I can't go any longer without one, I reach into my specially-made leg holster to grab the one thing that makes the obsessive feeling go away. But more importantly, it allows me to make more beautiful masterpieces like the one in front of me. Putting it up to my mouth, I take a huge bite of the sweet fruit, not caring if the juice runs down my chin. I look towards my creation, now noticing how his screams have died down. Huh, what a shame...

...

I wonder if I could make it burn different colors if I tried.

Beside me, France makes a sound of disgust, the way he always does whenever I'm forced to follow my Contract.

"I can't believe that you actually enjoy eating those raw like that!" he exclaims dramatically, with what I'm assuming to be an equally dramatic pose. I roll my eyes playfully. I swear, if he could make himself sparkle I think he would.

"I happen to love my Contract, thank you," I reply before taking another huge bite of the fruit. France sighs before wrapping his arm around my shoulders, joining me in watching my masterpiece continue to burn.

"Only you would love to eat a tomato as part of your Contract, Espagne."

I smirk before plopping the rest of the tomato in my mouth.

"Do you think I can change the colors if I try?" I muse after finishing chewing, nodding my head towards the flames in front of us. I'm still itching to know if it's possible. France laughs, his body shaking my own with the force of it.

"Of course you can, mon ami_. _However...," he moves the wrist on my shoulder to get a better look at his watch. "We should be on our way now. I think we've been here long enough, don't you agree?" I sigh, he's right. We've already spent way too much time here.

"Let's go then," I relent, reluctant to leave my masterpiece so soon. I allow France to gently lead me away from the warehouse and towards the awaiting car that's outside, summoning the familiar warmth in my chest when we're a safe distance away. The building behind us explosively bursts into flames soon after and France laughs loudly besides me, turning to get a better look.

"You couldn't have waited until we were in the car to do that?"

When he looks back at me, I grin widely at him, allowing my teeth to show. I feel a small tremor go through his body as a result.

"Lo siento, I guess I _did_ get carried away there, didn't I?" With that being said, I shrug his arm off so that I can properly get into the passenger seat of the car. Before getting in though, I glance over to where France is about to enter the driver's seat.

"Oi, France?"

France stops, looking at me over the top of the car with a puzzled look on his face.

"Don't forget, I _am_ a Contractor," I say, smiling innocently at him, "I can assure you that they will have no problems identifying the body of Mr. Smith. I was simply trying to help the authorities find the place better. That's all." I barely catch the look of amusement on France's face before I slide into the car and close the door. Taking another tomato from my holster, I begin to eat it, watching the warehouse burn through tinted windows as I savor the flavor. Even after the sound of the driver's door closes and the engine starts up, I continue to watch in the review mirror until it's completely out of view. After a moment of silence France finally speaks, his tone hushed.

"How could I forget what you are, mon ami? After all, we Contractors don't have any emotions to get in the way of our decision making. We are rational beings to the core."

I don't respond as I lean my head against the cold glass, now looking up at stars in the night sky. Our sky...with our stars. I smile to myself. Yes, the sky belongs to us now, and it always will be.


	2. Looks Can Be Deceiving

**Additional Warning(s): **This chapter will have allusions to rape, just a heads up.**  
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**Looks Can Be Deceiving**

"Please tell me that you're fucking with me."

Romulus doesn't say anything, simply smiling at me calmly. Now that we're alone in his office, I can feel my façade slowly crumbling, my eye involuntarily starting to twitch. That damn cheeky bastard!

Smile still in place, he hands over a manilla envelope from where he's sitting at his desk. For a moment, I frown at it from the other side before tentatively taking it from him. With the envelope in hand, I glance back up too see my grandfather lean back into his chair, an almost contemplative look on his face. I refuse to open it though, noticing the tint of worry in his eyes despite his smile. When he notices my stubbornness, his smile falls and he sighs heavily.

"Lovino, as you've probably already guessed, you've been requested by Dawn's Union for your...abilities." I snort. "Abilities." Right.

"Yeah, what of it? Those bastards have been 'requesting' me for awhile now," I retort, rolling my eyes. We've gone over this too many times. I have absolutely _no_ interest in joining a permanent organization. Due to Romulus' high standing in Dawn's Union, or "Union" for short, I have the rare leisure of "politely" declining their requests. Though I will never actually admit it to anyone, the only people who I will _ever_ be loyal to is mia famiglia. Absolutely _no one_ else.

"Yes, well...this time I have to agree with them," he mumbles, his voice barely loud enough for me to hear. I raise an eyebrow. What the hell is _that_ suppose to mean? No doubt noticing my confused-looking expression, Romulus lets out another sigh. "Just trust me on this, Lovino."

I glare at him suspiciously. He only ever says that when he finds that it's of the "utmost importance" (his words, not mine) that I do what he says. Usually he doesn't care what missions I choose and lets me decide which ones I want to do (which is practically none of them), but for some odd reason, _now_ he wants me to go on a mission for the Union? I do _not _want to join the goddamn Union with the giant stick up their asses, for fuck's sake! I'm about to tell him exactly that when I realize something that stops me right in my tracks. Seeing my understanding, Romulus gives me a rather weak smile.

"I'm not getting a choice anymore...am I? Not if I want to continue searching," I ask, carefully studying his reaction. Romulus nods slowly before placing his chin on his now intertwined hands.

"I'm afraid not, but...," he shifts his eyes down, hesitating. That catches my interest immediately. I _know_ that look: that mixed look of apprehension and concern that he only gets whenever he has any information to a possible lead on _him_. I slam a fist on his desk and force him to look back up at me, the piece of furniture violently shaking from it.

"If you have something to say, than spit it the fuck out, dammit!" I yell, my whole body trembling. I haven't gotten any new leads on him for _months_. If he has something, _anything_, that could help me and my search...

Romulus sighs and closes his eyes, now rubbing small circles into his forehead.

"I didn't want to tell you yet because I'm not entirely sure. It's a long shot, at best," he says, halting his movements in order to give me an exasperated look. "By the way, do you mind not destroying that envelope? It has all the information and documents that you'll need for your trip."

I finally notice my hand clenching the envelope in a death grip and immediately go to loosen it until I'm holding it like any normal human being would. Taking a deep breathe, I close my eyes and force myself to ask, dreading the answer but needing to know.

"So where the fuck am I being sent off to?"

**The next morning...**

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I exclaim, earning myself a few glares from the mothers around me. I roll my eyes at them. It's not like their children haven't heard the words before anyway!

Looking back at the screen, I grumble a couple more profanities under my breath. I still can't believe that I have to leave my home country of Italy in order to go _there_. Of _all_ the places I had to be sent to, it had to be motherfucking America? I guess it could be worse...at least I'm not being sent to that God-forsaken fuckery that's Germany, but _America_? Those bastards can't cook for shit! No doubt because of England! I shudder at the thought. There is no way in _hell_ that I'm gonna be able to live off their crap.

And this fucking screen isn't helping my mood either!

I keep checking the screen over and over again, still hoping to _God_ that I'm somehow reading it wrong. I sigh angrily when I realize that I indeed had to wait for another three hours for my supposed 10 o'clock flight due to "technical difficulties." What the fuck does that even _mean _anyway? I run a hand through my hair roughly. I can already tell that this mission is going to be a motherfucking pain.

**11 hours later...**

I swear on the Virgin Mary that if anyone so much as _talks_ to me, that I am not responsible for their deaths. How is it that Romulus somehow puts me on an eight hour long plane ride with all the screaming brats possible? I bet he planned this, that bastard! Thankfully for them, Naples, Venice, and Rome are safely tucked away in the plane's cargo hold. Though, I wouldn't even _consider_ being on this shitty excuse for a plane if I couldn't somehow take them all with me. But of course, Romulus had already arranged everything beforehand. Bastard.

"_We're about to land at the JFK International Airport in New York City, so please fasten your seat belts and have your seats returned to their upright position. Thank you for flying with us, and welcome to the United States of America!"_

The flight attendant's sickeningly sweet voice makes me groan, though I'm secretly relieved that we would finally be landing soon. I look out the window to my left to see the tall skyscrapers of New York City. It was nothing like Italy, whose grand cities were built around the old ruins of our ancestors. Everything here was so technological and..._new_. I groan again at the remembrance of being in America. But...even if this is one of the last places on Earth I wanted to be, there's still a small chance that I could finally find _him, _and I'm willing to do anything I can in order to make that goal a reality. Even if it means spending God-knows how long in this fucking excuse for a country.

After the plane finally lands at the gate, I go to pick up my duffel and metal cello case from the baggage claim, heading outside of the terminal when I grab them. I look over at the line of taxis to see if any were available, hoping to snag one so it could to take me to my new apartment.

That is, until I see the giant line with a majority of those bratty kids from my flight.

...

Walking it is then.

**3 hours later...**

Fuck, I've been walking for _how_ long now? There is no way in hell that this is right. It's obvious that no one even _lives_ around here! I'm so fucking lost right now...

Goddammit where _am_ I?

I sigh and set my stuff down on the ground so that I can take another look at the directions, being careful to keep my cello case upright as I set it beside me. Seriously, what the fuck? It should only have been an hour or so of a walk, right? Not three goddamn hours! Leave it to Romulus' idiotic secretary to give me faulty directions. I scowl, roughly shoving the piece of paper back into my coat pocket. If she was half as capable as she was pretty, I wouldn't be in the middle of God-knows-where at motherfucking four in the goddamn morning!

"Hey there, little mouse! What's a pretty thing like you doing out here all by your lonesome?"

Two men come out from the shadows ahead of me (Seriously...? Did those fuckers _plan_ that dramatic shit), both openly wearing red-colored bandanas around their necks with pride. I furrow my eyebrows in question. A gang?

"Hey fellas! Look what we have here...it's a little mouse who's lost its way."

My body instinctively stiffens when I begin to hear a multitude of loud footsteps coming towards me from behind. My eyes remain on the men in front of me as I concentrate on counting the footsteps in my head. One, two, four...six, eight...twelve. _T__welve_ footsteps. So there's six people behind me, eight total. Probably men. Since none of them are even bothering to keep quiet, they're arrogant as well. The men behind me keep walking until they're about ten feet away, probably in an attempt to keep me boxed in. So lackeys. Obviously. Now who's the leader...?

I refocus on the two men in front of me, catching the taller and more muscular man of the two watching me with lust-filled eyes, slowly looking me up and down like I was some fucking piece of meat. The man next to him also looks excited but for an entirely different reason: glancing back and forth between me and the man while seemingly waiting for _something_. When his gaze focuses on me though, the murderous intent is _painfully_ obvious in his eyes, making it clear that he had no intention of letting me leave alive. He's visibly restraining himself though, which means that the other man must be...

Ah...so_ he's_ the leader.

Finally, the man's eyes land back on my face.

"Yeah, you'll do nicely..."

My lips curl into a smirk. What a stupid-ass motherfucker. I'd like to see him _try_.

Noticing my smirk, he tries to scowl dangerously.

"What the fuck are you smiling at, you little cunt?" he growls, taking a long hunting knife from underneath his coat before charging right at me. The man next to him sneers at me but remains where he is, the ones behind me not making a sound. So none of them are going to aid their own leader, huh?

Pity...I always _do_ enjoy a challenge.

Taking a stab at me with his knife, I effortlessly catch the blade between my fingers and wrap my gloved hand around his own. A look of pure shock comically making its way onto the fucker's face for a brief moment before I grab onto his shoulder with my other hand, forcing him close as I roughly jab my knee into his gut, simultaneously letting go of him when I do. He stumbles backwards and coughs violently, trying to re-catch his balance. No doubt he'll attempt to try and attack me again if his ego is anything to go by.

I don't let him get that far.

Swiftly taking a firm hold of the leather strap to my cello case, I use it to ram the case right into the fucker's face, the impact making a loud "CRACK" noise. I smirk.

One down, seven to go.

I straighten up myself as the fucker's lifeless body falls onto the pavement and place my cello case next to me. However, I make sure to keep a firm hold on the strap, taking advantage of their shock to gradually wrap it around my hand.

At least I can be assured that this case won't dent from ramming into such a thick fucking skull. I _did_ tell Romulus that a steel case would come in handy.

The men behind me don't move when the fucker's friend runs over to his corpse, screaming at the others that he's dead. That's when everything sets into motion, six pairs of footsteps moving towards me all at once. I watch with a smirk as the fucker's friend pulls out a SIG Sauer P239 pistol and points it at me, his hands trembling in suppressed anger. If these men fight like that fucker on the ground, then this won't be much of a challenge at all.

Even so, this could prove to be entertaining.

Letting my body take over, I grab an arm that was attempting to grab me from behind and switch our positions. Immediately, the body violently jolts four times. That makes four bullets left. Max.

I forcibly push the limp body at the fucker's friend to keep him busy, not bothering to watch as the heavy body takes him down with a soft "thump."

One incapacitated, five to go.

Hearing a shuffle behind me, I spin my whole body around and move my head to the side, hearing a whizzing noise go right by my ear. The man who had shot at me looks like he's about to shit himself, another SIG Sauer P239 pistol in his hand. How unoriginal.

There's a grunt and a shifting of something heavy behind me so I duck down, the action soon followed with four loud "BANG!" noises. I watch the man in front of me topple backwards, bullets now littering his face. I sigh. Looks like the fucker's friend got up faster than I thought. But there were four bangs just now, so that means...

Re-tightening the grip on my cello case, I head back towards the direction of the fucker's friend, all the while dodging the other four men as they each try to come at me_._ The fucker's friend frantically tries to shoot the pistol at me again but when nothing happens, his eyes fearfully widen in realization. I smirk. Took him long enough.

I sprint towards him, side-stepping to the left and right to dodge the bullets that are now whizzing by me from behind. If it's another motherfucking SIG Sauer P239 pistol, I'm going to be fucking _pissed_.

The fucker's friend is _still_ in the same place, desperately trying to put in a new magazine as I rush towards him.

That will be the last mistake he ever makes.

Taking advantage of my momentum, I use my weight to slam my cello case right into his chest, hearing the familiar cracking sound of broken bones. I force it into his chest further, watching the life leave his eyes with a blank expression.

Four to go.

I deftly untangle my hand and leave my case where it is, barely dodging another round of bullets as I move out of the way. I scowl. Those fuckers better not have shot my case, dammit!

Taking cover behind in an alleyway, I wait until the shots stop coming before taking the chance to glance at the remaining four men. The one with the gun is attempting to reload another magazine, the one to his right carefully watching me with a hunting knife in hand. The other two dipshits on the other hand appear to be completely defenseless. And would you look at that? The gun is _indeed_ a SIG Sauer P239 pistol.

Unfuckingbelievable.

Seeing an opening, I leave my cover to run towards them in a bee line, going straight after the man with the gun first. As much "fun" as this all has been, I can't afford to let this continue much longer. I can't continue risking someone else being in the area and calling the police. We aren't exactly being quiet.

The gunman finally loads the new magazine into his gun and takes advantage of my haste, emptying the entire magazine right into my chest. The bullets rip into my skin and muscles, the force knocking me flat on my back.

"Take that, you fucking cunt! That's from us, Red Bandits!" he hollers, obviously proud of himself like some attention-seeking brat. I hear the rest of the fuckers loudly celebrate along with him as I quietly get back on my feet, feeling the bullets make their way out of my chest and onto the ground. Hearing the small clinking noises, they automatically turn to look, only to freeze when they see me, their mouths gaping open and close like the goddamn fuckers that they are.

"Now look what you've done...this suit is Zanetti, you know...," I mutter, scolding them like the fucking brats that they are. As much as I wanted to yell and scream at them for ruining my new suit, I don't. It was all part of the carefully made façade that I was use to showing people, minus mia famiglia. I found that humans are _much_ more terrified when I spoke to them calmly and without any emotion.

After all, this is how a Contractor is _suppose_ to act.

Their brains must've died because they still haven't moved. Without hesitating, I lunge forward and kick the man with the pistol in the side of the head, making him topple over before setting my sights on the man to his right. I snatch the hand that held the knife and force him to stab himself in the throat, taking the knife from him in one fluid motion to throw it at another's heart. Both of them fall with a simultaneous "THUMP." I close my eyes.

Two to go.

The fuckers that are left standing finally start to react to what appears to be a dead man's assault, the sound of another magazine being loaded reaching my ears. I open my eyes to find him aiming it right at my head, a pair of hesitant footsteps coming from behind. An attempt to restrain me?

Big mistake.

I let the two believe they have the upper hand, taking a step to the side as soon as I see the beginnings of the trigger being pulled, the man landing behind me with a soft thud.

One.

It takes only a couple of steps before the last fucker is well within my reach, so I grab his hand and forcibly shove the barrel of his own gun into his mouth, seeing the split second of panic flash in his eyes.

"Arrivederci...," I whisper, forcing him to pull the trigger before allowing him to unceremoniously fall to the cold, hard ground. I step over the body towards where my cello case was, tugging it out of the man's chest and leaving behind a deep impression. Taking a good look at my case, I carefully check it over to see if there where any dents or stray bullets in it, smiling softly when I find none.

Slinging the case over my shoulder, I go back over to where I was shot and pick up the eight bullets from the ground, searching for any signs of blood as I put each one into my pocket. I sigh in relief when I find none, thankful that my wounds healed fast enough that I didn't bleed all over the place. _That_ would've been a motherfucking pain. Even if the police (or anyone who's interested for that matter) _do_ happen to spot anything, there isn't enough to cause any suspicion. They were a _gang_ after all, that much I'm certain of now. The first thing they'll probably look into are enemy gangs who may have had a vendetta against them. I should be in the clear.

Satisfied, I head over to where my duffel bag still rested and sling it on my other shoulder, nonchalantly walking away and pulling out the crumpled directions from my pocket again. Looking down at the bottom of the sheet, I read the final name and address of my destination and stop walking. I mentally twitch in realization. That damn motherfucking _bitch_ gave me directions to the goddamn LaGuardia Airport! It's no _wonder_ I've been walking around for so goddamn long!

I fist the paper in my hand and shove it back into my coat pocket, now taking my cheap crap of a cell phone (I was suppose to get a proper one from the Union soon) to dial an emergency contact onto the keyboard. It barely rings once before Romulus picks up, probably worried out of his mind since I've never used this number before. I don't wait another second.

"MAKE SURE YOUR SECRETARY GIVES ME THE CORRECT MOTHERFUCKING DIRECTIONS NEXT TIME, YOU FUCKING _BASTARD_! NOW GET YOUR LAZY FUCKING ASS OUT OF BED AND GIVE ME THE RIGHT GODDAMN ADDRESS _NOW_!" I scream, hearing a soft thud from the other side of the phone. I hear Romulus muttering a bunch of apologies when a woman starts crying in the background. He must've been sleeping with the bitch. Good, that means she heard me.

I mentally sigh as I give Romulus my current location, waiting impatiently while he gives me new directions to my apartment. Thankfully, the place wasn't too far off from where I am currently. Another twenty minutes or so of walking, tops. As soon as he finishes relaying the information to me, I hang up on him and start walking in the general direction.

About twenty minutes later, I arrive at a small two-story apartment complex that looks a bit out of place, despite the fact that it _is_ on the outskirts of New York city. But frankly, I can't make myself give too much of a shit right now. I just want to sleep, goddammit...

Dragging my feet up the stairs, I grab the key from my bag, thankful that it's so late and that I had been given my key in advance. It would've made things much more complicated if I met my new landlord and neighbors with blood all over.

Reaching the top floor, I look at the numbers on the doors before spotting a bright pink door with a giant red "8" on the front of it.

Interesting.

Unlocking the door, I enter the apartment and place my key on the kitchen counter, setting my cello case up against it before tossing my duffel on the ground. I don't even bother to turn on the lights as I lock the door behind me, barely able to keep my eyes open now. Noticing the couch up ahead, I ignore everything else and head straight for it. It's times like these (which were _way_ too fucking often) that I'm glad I ignored Romulus and had the apartment furnished beforehand. Even if it _was_ on such a short notice and cost a shit-ton to do.

I shuck off my suit and shoes, tossing them on the ground as I go. It's not like it mattered if it crumpled anyway, my suit was already _beyond_ ruined. Stupid-ass fuckers...

My mind goes blissfully blank as I plop down onto the couch, allowing the long awaited sleep overtake me.

**That early afternoon...**

Too. Fucking. _Bright_.

Those are the words that keep repeating themselves in my head over and over again as I finally crack open an eye to figure out why the_ fuck_ it was so goddamn bright. I grumble when I realize that the sunlight is coming in through the curtain-less windows. I need to fix that ASAP.

Knowing that there's no fucking way I can go back to sleep with the sun practically making itself at home on my eyeballs, I let out a big yawn and sit up, looking around my new apartment for the very first time.

Though it was small, I actually preferred it that way; it meant a lot less cleaning for me to do. The room itself is simple yet tasteful. A giant window takes up the left side of the wall, showing me a view of the city. The living room itself has a beige couch that I'm currently sitting on, the couch facing a small television on top of a simple entertainment center. In front of the couch rests a simple coffee table with no intricate designs or patterns. However, despite the room's simplicity, everything was made with the very best of quality.

Stretching my body, I get up and pick up my shoes and clothes from the ground before heading to the kitchen, setting the shoes on the cheap, plastic counter-top before throwing the bloody clothes under the sink. I'll deal with those properly later.

Leaning back against the sink, I now get a better look at the tacky kitchen. It wasn't much, that's for sure, but it'd have to do. Besides, it has a stove, oven, and frig...and frankly, those are the only fucking things that really matter to me.

Finally grabbing my duffel, I walk towards the bedroom and throw it onto the bed before heading to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Since I should have some time before the Union contacts me, I decide to go out buy some groceries, along with some much needed blinds for that fucking window. After a quick shower, I shrug on a pair of Armani jeans and a simple white tee, pulling on a pair of brown Doc Martins before grabbing my wallet and key.

I'm just closing the door and locking it when someone runs into me, dropping the contents of their paper bag to fall all over the ground. Although I _really_ want to tell them to go fuck themselves for being so damn oblivious, I don't, knowing I had a façade to keep up. So instead, I kneel down to help, picking up some of the tomatoes and putting them in my other arm. I'm about to apologize in a hopefully timid tone when the idiot cuts me off.

"¡Lo siento! ¡Lo siento! ¡Perdóname, por favor!"

I look up from the the fifth tomato that I'm about to pick up to see emerald-green eyes boring into mine, his proximity making me drop all the tomatoes I was holding with a start. The tanned man looks to be older than me, though not by much. Probably late twenties or so. His brown hair is slightly curly, perfectly framing his face. A huge white smile is on his face as he laughs rather stupidly. I frown. What the...?

"Ah, I'm sorry...I didn't see you ther-OH! You must be the new neighbor! Angelo Romano, ¿si?" he asks, taking hold of my hand to place a soft kiss on the back of it. My eyes widen as my face dramatically begins to heat up, though I'm too shocked by his forwardness to do anything else. What the fuck does this tomato_ bastard_ think he's doing?!

The man grins widely at me before standing up and pulling me along with him.

"My name is Babieca Ortega. It's truly a pleasure to meet you, querido!"

* * *

**"Fun" Facts (You don't have to read these by the way, but it can better help you understand the story): **As you can guess (hopefully), Spain is Babieca Ortega, Lovi's new neighbor. Like Lovi, Spain has a fake civilian identity. Personally, it made sense not use "Antonio" or "Lovino" because those are their real names. I also tend to give characters names with certain meanings whenever I have the chance, and these two are no different! So, to explain:**  
**

**Angelo **means "messenger" or "angel" in Italian (hint: remember that). And, **Romano**, is a common Italian surname. I hope I don't need to explain on why I had to use this one, haha.

**Babieca** is a name that means a "simpleton" or "stupid." But it comes with a story: according to legend, Babieca was the name of a white Andalusian steed belonging to El Cid. Babieca was frail and wild so when El Cid chose her, his godfather exclaimed "Babieca!" and so this became his name. But Babieca was not stupid. In fact, he became a great and famous warhorse.

I took one look at the story behind it and I couldn't think of a better fitting alternative name for Spain. I hope y'all agree with me, or at least get a good laugh from it (I know I did). Anyway, **Ortega** is just a common Spanish surname that I thought sounded good with Babieca. I gave them both common surnames with the similar concept of an English equivalent in mind. Like "Smith" or something. Thanks for reading this if you have and I'm sorry that it was so long!

Oh, and another "fun" fact: Lovi's room number is "8" because there are 8 regions in Southern Italy, and Spain's room will be "10" because there are 10 official/unofficial Spanish dialects in Spain (according to Wikipedia). Technically they are next door neighbors, as all the odd numbers are on the first floor and all the even numbers are on the second.


	3. The New Guy

**The New Guy**

"My name is Babieca Ortega, it's truly a pleasure to meet you_, querido_!" I say, smiling as I help him up. My landlord told me that I was going to have a new neighbor, but I didn't expect him to be so cute! Angelo was a couple of inches shorter than me, and looked to be no older than twenty-one, with short chestnut brown hair and wide, honey colored eyes. Curiously, he had a curl of hair that stubbornly went off to the right side of his head. He was wearing a white t-shirt, along with a pair of blue jeans and brown leather boots that came up mid calf. He continues to stare at me, his whole face a crimson color making him look just like a...

I tilt my head and laugh at the realization.

"Aw! You're so cute! You look just like a tomato!~"

As soon as the words leave my mouth, I see his fist coming to punch me but I make myself not move and to brace my muscles for it. I feel the fist connect with my stomach, almost making me double over from the force of it. I laugh rather weakly, recovering quickly as I hear Angelo stomping away, mumbling harshly as he goes down the stairs and towards the ground floor. I go over to the railing when I see his retreating back going towards the city.

"Angelo!" I yell, grabbing his attention and instinctually turning around to see me. I can see that his face was still tomato red and the thought makes me smile. "I'll see you around!~" I finish, making myself sound happy, before turning around and picking up the now ruined tomatoes off the floor and into the paper bag.

My stomach aches at the slight movement; no doubt that punch would result in a nasty bruise. I miscalculated, he used a lot more force than I thought he would for someone his size.

Despite that, I can't blow my cover. I have to keep up my appearance as a bumbling and overly-happy human that couldn't fight to save his life. Suddenly being able to have grace could be detrimental to the mission, especially if someone I knew saw me. And that includes Angelo, since he _is_ my new neighbor.

It was really hard to fake it at first...Contractors aren't capable of having emotions.

Though, there was something about the passion in his eyes that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

I shake the thought out of my head and sigh, I wonder why he punched me in the first place. France said that if I found someone cute enough to sleep with, that I should kiss their hand and compliment them. Something about me 'needing it'...and I didn't mind the idea of cuddling with Angelo in the same bed, he's just too cute!

Speaking of France...he told me that I had to meet him and Prussia at the usual place soon. He said that Prussia needed to tell us something important about the mission.

I look inside the paper bag and frown, they were somewhat salvageable until Angelo dropped them on the ground again in his haste. Taking the only good one out of the bag, I go back downstairs and throw the rest in the garbage can that was sitting on the curb. I guess I'm just going to have to go shopping again when I get back.

Going in the opposite direction of the city, I walk to our usual spot, eating my tomato as I go. After an hour or so, I arrive at an old playground. It was the perfect place to meet; people rarely came around here, despite it being in a family neighborhood. The playground was practically surrounded by a seven foot high stone wall, making it secluded yet open at the same time. The equipment and benches were also organized in such a way that we could all discuss things without looking too suspicious or together. Sometimes I bring one of the children that I have to babysit in order to keep up appearances. They usually go off and play by themselves; as the children I babysit tend to be an only child, so they prefer to play alone anyways.

I walk in and, though I don't show it, I notice France sitting on the swings, idly swinging back and forth. While on the bench to my right, I see Prussia reading today's newspaper. I ignore the two and go to sit on top of a metal children's slide, letting my legs dangle off the side that the ladder was on. I make myself comfortable before waiting to hear Prussia tell us the news. It's a long moment of silence before Prussia finally speaks. I move my eyes so that I can see him.

"Our superiors said that we are getting a new partner for the mission sometime this week," he says, his red eyes glancing over his newspaper to take a quick glance at me and France before hiding back in his paper again. I doubt he was actually reading it though.

"And who is the Contractor, _La Prusse_?" France asks from the swings behind me. I look away from Prussia and stare off at the clouds in the sky. I could feel the sun's rays on my skin; the weather was really nice today.

"He's not a Contractor."

I turn my whole head towards Prussia this time. What did he mean, 'not a Contractor'? Apparently, France had that same exact thought in mind.

"What do you _mean_, not a Contractor?" he asks, echoing my earlier thought, "Who else could they possibly send for the mission?" Wrong thing to say.

Prussia visibly twitches, shoving the newspaper aside in order to glare in France's direction.

"What's so great about being a Contractor anyway? Mad that your unawesome self can't do the job this time?" he hisses, taking his hand and moving it roughly through his white hair.

France and I remain quiet. Prussia was once a powerful and greatly feared Contractor, before he became a Regressor: a Contractor who lost their powers. Since it was never heard of, nor happen since, there was no way to know how it exactly happened. Or if he could ever regain his powers again. It was an unsaid rule between us three to not mention this fact to him, despite France mentioning it inadvertently.

"So who is our new, 'partner'?" I ask, looking back at the clouds. Prussia sighs,

"You've probably heard of him before...he's known as 'Lucifer'." I rapidly blink of couple of times, who?

I hear France laugh loudly behind me, as well as sound of a hand hitting a forehead and a groan in Prussia's direction. I turn towards where Prussia was, did I miss something?

"Oh, _mon ami_! You've never heard of the famous, 'Lucifer', have you?" France asks, continuing to laugh.

"Unbelievable..." mumbles Prussia, his hand on his face. I hear France climb up the slide in order to hang one of his arms over my shoulder, the other wrapping around my waist. The force almost pushes me off the slide's edge, the movement making me bend my back forward and my stomach twitches in slight pain. I need to stop letting my guard down around these two.

"Didn't you know?" he asks, whispering directly into my ear, "'Lucifer' is a well known deceiver and hacker from Europe, if you know where to find him. It's said that he can hack _any_ system without batting an eyelid, and I heard that his fighting skills are second to none. Whether against a Contractor or otherwise. An interesting and mysterious one, _oui_?"

I ponder that for moment. A human who can fight equally against a Contractor? I smirk and lick my lips at the thought, that _is_ interesting...I wonder what would happen if we fought. Maybe if I-

"Mind getting a room, you two?" Prussia asks while snickering to himself, his voice pulling me out of my thoughts. I look at him in confusion, what was he talking about?

"Sounds good to me," France says softly, as I feel something trying to get into my jeans. A thought crosses my mind, making me stand up suddenly in realization. France squeals, almost falling off the slide if he hadn't had one arm over my shoulder.

"I completely forgot, I need to go get some more tomatoes before the store closes today!" I exclaim. I almost forgot about the fact that I didn't have any at home, and the store was closing early today. Prussia stares at me in disbelief, for some reason looking between me, and, what I'm guessing to be, France.

"How the _fuck_ do you keep doing that...?" he whispers softly, his eyes still wide. I cock my head to the side.

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"N-never mind...anyway, I thought you already went to the store earlier today so that you could meet with France and the awesome me?" he asks, continuing to just stare at me.

"I did," I respond, smiling, "but they got ruined on the way home by accident! So if that's all we need to discuss-"

Prussia's phone interrupts me, before he quickly whips out his phone from his jacket and holds it up to his ear.

"_Preußen_," he answers, listening intently to the person on the other line. I look at France from over my shoulder, while he looks back at me with a serious expression. I wonder what our superiors want.

"_Verstanden_," he says, the sound of his phone closing immediately following after. I look back at Prussia, waiting for the new orders. He sighs, rubbing the back of his head with his hand before looking at us.

"It appears that 'Lucifer' has been contacted and has just arrived. He will be meeting us at headquarters. You two know what to do," he says simply, standing up from the bench while taking hold of his newspaper before walking off.

After a moment, France sighs, taking his arm off my shoulder while he goes down the slide. "Well, until then, _au revoir, mon ami,_" he says with a wink before heading off in the opposite direction from Prussia.

My head falls back and I groan, I guess I won't be able to get anymore tomatoes until tomorrow. I pout at the thought before concentrating on clouds above me, waiting a bit before I had to meet them at headquarters. We always left at different times when heading off, just in case. Ten minutes or so go by when I decide that I could head over there now.

I jump off the top of the slide before heading back to my apartment. When I finally arrive, I head over to the apartment complex's shared garage. I open my garage door and grab my black helmet from the table before going over to my red and yellow motorcycle. I grab my keys from my pocket and put them in the ignition, making my motorcycle purr to life. Closing the door behind me, I then head off towards the city, curious at being able to meet this 'Lucifer'.

When I reach the city's limits, I expertly navigate through New York's busy streets. Before long, I arrive at the familiar skyscraper, the building looming over me. It's a rational and brilliant decision, really. Hiding headquarters in plain site.

I go to the side of the building where the parking lot is, before parking my bike and heading off to the elevator. After entering the compact space, I take out a card key and insert it into the dashboard, typing out the correct password on the touch screen above. When I finish, I press the button that leads to the thirteenth floor. I arrive at the floor soon after, hearing the elevator click open behind me. I turn around and briskly walk past the receptionist's desk, hearing a soft welcome as I go by.

I go down the hall until I see Prussia's office, not even bothering to knock as I open the door.

"Spain, there you are! You've kept the awesome me waiting! I want you to meet 'Lucifer', our new partner."

I'm about to welcome him but as soon as I see his face, my voice gets stuck in my throat. _Mi dios_...is that...

"'Lucifer'? What the fuck! That's not my name, dumbass!" he yells, glaring at Prussia, "And why the fuck are you calling me the name of the motherfucking devil?"

Prussia just laughs though, completely ignoring him.

"Oh! But we'll be giving him the codename 'Italy', from now on, _ja_?"

I barely pay attention and continue to stare, because standing there is the last person who I ever expected to be here. Honey colored eyes turn to me, the anger in his eyes dissipating before widening with recognition.

Angelo Romano is 'Lucifer'?

* * *

_A/N: I'm really sorry! I was going to explain Contractors, etc. in more detail here (sorry, La petite tomate!) but it kinda didn't work out that way and it felt like the chapter should end right here. I also didn't want to rush into the explanations either, I like to make things flow, lol. But I'll definitely be writing all about it through Romano's perspective next chapter, I promise (the chapter will also be much longer, hopefully. I hope that makes up for this short one)! I also hope that I got Prussia somewhat right...his character is difficult for me, despite my 'research' (I've been watching videos, etc. so that I can try and write him correctly) so please let me know!_

_Oh! And chapter 4 is already on the way lol_

_Thanks and review, por favor!~_

_love&undead dinosaurs, decorusvita_


	4. The Mission Begins

**The Mission Begins**

No.

Fucking.

Way.

That tomato _bastardo_ from earlier is _Spain_? _He's_ the 'Red Conquistador' that the bastard mentioned? I even heard of him all the way in Italy. The man who's famous for being one of the most powerful and bloodthirsty Contractors on Earth...is this _idiota_?

Again...no fucking way.

And those two...the ones who call themselves Prussia and France? No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to keep my façade up around them for more than five minutes. Those bastards are such an annoying bunch of _idioti_! Prussia keeps rambling on about how awesome he is and France keeps trying to get into my pants; and all in the past twenty minutes of getting here! Damn you, Romulus! I swear...if this doesn't help me find _him_, I'm going to fucking throttle you...

I let myself become too distracted because I soon feel a hand groping my ass.

"Get away from me, you _vino _bastard!" I yell, before turning around and kicking him in the side, making him fall over from the blow. Prussia just laughs his head off while the tomato _bastardo _continues to stare at me from the door, his expression completely blank.

"That was awesome!" Prussia laughs, holding onto his sides, "Not as awesome as me, mind you, but still awesome! For a human, I mean."

I turn my head to give the albino a confused look, 'human'? I smack my forehead with my palm in realization, Romulus forgot to fucking tell them that I was a goddamn Contractor! I'm about to inform him that I _was_ actually a Contractor before he suddenly turns all serious, a dark smile on his face. I feel my face twitch, why do I have a bad feeling about this?

"France...why don't you teach the newbie the 'ropes', _ja_?" he asks, a mischievous glint in his red eyes. Wait...WHAT?

"My pleasure," he says, whispering in my ear, before quickly turning me around and gently grabbing my face. His lips are dangerously close to mine, his eyes now glowing red.

The same red eyes of a Contractor that's about to use his power; and I have no fucking idea what it is. Unfortunately, I'm about to find out because there isn't anything that I can logically do about it now. He's too close and I can't move my body fast enough to dodge it. Obviously he's not trying to kill me, but I can't believe I let my guard down. _Cazzo_!

France is suddenly pulled away from me with a shriek, making me topple a bit backwards. Behind him, I see Spain roughly pull France back by his collar, his emerald eyes flashing dangerously.

Despite him not looking directly at me, a shiver runs down my spine from the sheer intensity of those eyes. Is that really the same tomato _bastardo_?

"_Spanien..._?"

Spain's eyes widen in confusion at Prussia's voice, immediately letting the _vino_ bastard go. He falls to the floor, coughing violently from the strain, his neck already showing a bruise from where his shirt chocked him.

I turn to see Prussia looking completely shocked at his partner's behavior, and that's when it clicks: why did Spain help me? If he really is a Contractor, he shouldn't care at all about what happens to me. Contractors are rational and amoral beings who, in the end, only care about themselves. We don't have any emotions getting in the way of what needs to be done. He wouldn't have gained anything by helping me, so why-

I don't finish the thought before Spain's hand is suddenly clenched around my throat, lifting me up in the air before slamming my body into the ground. My eyes automatically close from the impact. I can feel my spine break in multiple places before readjusting itself and healing just as quickly. I'm barely able to breath from the pressure of his hand. Damn, the motherfucking _bastardo_ was strong!

I open my eyes to see his narrowing back at me, something not quite right about them underneath that edge. I glare back at the tomato _bastardo _in defiance, before taking my knee and shoving it right into his chest. Flipping backwards quickly when he let's go, I barely dodge his foot from hitting my face. The _bastardo _used my last assault to situate his body in a way to fight back. Which means that he actually knew how to fight.

I quickly side step to my left and turn while standing up, using the momentum to kick him with my right leg, only to have him block me with his left forearm before grabbing me with his other hand. He tightens his grip around my calf, stopping my blow in its tracks. I notice the desk right behind me and without a second thought, I jump and twist my body slightly in order to bring up my other leg in a kick towards his shoulder. He moves to block my kick, a smirk on his face. I scowl, that cocky _bastardo_!

However, he wasn't holding onto my leg anymore, as he moved his arm to block my other kick. He probably thought that there was nothing else I could do. I grin to myself, it's not over yet. Using the force from my last kick, I place my right hand on the desk firmly, twisting my body again. I swiftly move my left leg up higher over his head, dodging his block. At the same time, I move my left hand to help brace myself on the desk. I escape his grasp, landing on both feet. However, I barely straighten up to block his own kick with my forearm. I wince at the impact, _cazzo_, that hurt!

I look at his face, noticing that same look in his eyes from before. Getting a better look at them, I see how confused and...scared they look. My eyes widen, that's impossible! A Contractor doesn't have emotions getting in the way of his decision making. So why the hell is he looking at me like that?

The shock of what I see distracts me long enough for him to move his leg back down on the floor, before taking his palm and moving it towards my face. His face impassive as emerald eyes now glow a bright red.

But he doesn't ever reach me.

Because suddenly, I see Prussia holding Spain from behind, hooking his arms back with his own, while the _vino_ bastard grabs onto his waist.

"_Mon ami_! You can't kill him, we need him for the mission! The mission! Remember the mission, _Espagne?_" France asks, frantically trying to get his point across quickly.

It seemed to have work, because after a long moment, his body becomes somewhat limp and eyes return to its original color. However, his expression remains cold and blank, his eyes looking at me without actually being there. I finally notice that my heart is thumping loudly in my chest. Did I imagine that look in his eyes?

"Can we trust you to control yourself, _Spanien_?" Prussia asks, though he was tightening his grip on him at the same time. Spain nods calmly, continuing to just stare blankly. Slowly, Prussia lets go of Spain, keeping an eye on him while France does the same. The two quietly look at each other before Prussia turns to me,

"Italy, why don't you wait outside for a second while the awesome me and France talk to Spain really quick, _ja_?"

I want to protest again about being called Italy, but I'm still in too much shock from what happened, as well as the bastard actually sounding serious for the first time since meeting him. So I simply nod and leave the room, closing the door behind me. My hand remains on the doorknob as I slide down against it until I'm sitting. I hear quiet mumbling from behind the door, but I don't bother to pay any attention. It almost feels like an eternity of me sitting there.

What the fuck just happened?

The door behind me suddenly opens, practically making me fall over. Motherfucker!

Prussia is smirking while laughing at me, before grabbing my arm to pull me off the ground. I twitch while quickly getting over my initial shock, I'm not some fucking brat, damnit! I'm about to scream at him that I can fucking move on my own but he interrupts me.

"Well, congratulations, newbie, you passed!" I stare at him. What was the bastard saying?

"_Ja_, the awesome me wanted to know what would happen if you and Spain fought and now we know! I wanted him to attack you when you least suspected it in order to see if you really live up to the name, 'Lucifer'" he explains, continuing to smirk at me.

"Stop calling me after the motherfucking devil, damnit!" I yell.

Prussia just waves me off though, cackling like a fucking _idiota_. A strong urge to punch that stupid grin of his face almost overtakes me. However, the urge subsides when I notice a movement and see France and Spain behind him. Spain was leaning back on the desk, the blank look still on his face while France has an arm around his shoulder, watching him nervously. He seems to be asking him something but I can't hear what he's saying, and Spain doesn't seem to be responding.

France actually looks worried...almost like he cared. That was the thing about Contractors, we've had to hide with humans around for so long that we sometimes forget that we can't feel anything. Though, only when we do a job do we not bother with it. It has to be an act...so why-

"Anyway!" the albino says loudly, catching my attention again. Damn, I'm getting distracted a lot today! "I hope he didn't scare you off, it's so easy with you humans!" My face twitches again. I seem to have developed a facial twitch from this _idiota_.

"Like I would be scared of the tomato_ bastardo_!" I seethe, "Besides, I'm a Contractor, _idiota_! I wouldn't die so easily, 'Red Conquistador' or not!"

Prussia's eyes widen in pure shock, while I notice the other two quickly turning their heads in my direction. Fucking hell! Is it really that motherfucking hard to believe?

"You're a Contractor?" Prussia asks slowly, almost assessing me as if to see if I'm lying.

"Yes, I'm a fucking Contractor. Are you deaf?" I ask, rolling my eyes.

"What's your power?" he asks, a serious expression on his face.

"Wouldn't you like to know," I respond, smirking. He's about to say something but I cut him off, "Just know that I can fucking take care of myself."

He looks likes he's about to demand it from me, before I see a hand on his shoulder. I look up and see Spain giving Prussia an odd look that I can't identify. Whatever it was, it makes Prussia growl angrily before turning around and heading back to his desk.

"Like the awesome me gives a fuck on what your power is. Just don't fuck up the mission, kid," he says. I stiffen, what did that bastard just call me?

"Take this," he orders, glaring and throwing something at me. I instinctively catch the small object with ease. Looking down in my hand, I see a plain black flash drive, "That has all the information that you'll require for the mission, such as the building's layout, the staff, etc. As well as what you'll be hacking for and the type of system it is. Learn it by Friday and get a nice suit. You'll get the rest of your equipment later. Got all that, kid?"

I glower in return, fucking bastard! Unfortunately, he's somewhat serious and those were my orders...and I have to follow what he says if it involves the mission. Still, there's no way in Hell that I'm going to follow them quietly.

"Yeah, I fucking got it," I respond coldly, saluting the bastard with my middle finger before turning around and abruptly leaving the office.

"Is he really a Contractor, _La Prusse_?"

I barely hear it as I leave, and as I head further down the hallway, I don't hear anything else. I head into the elevator, ignoring a 'have a good day' as I go. I snort, yeah, some great motherfucking day its been. My first day and I have to deal with two fucking _idioti_ and some kind of hormonal tomato _bastardo_! I basically punch the touch screen with the button leading to the ground floor, I just want to go home, damnit!

**Friday night before the scheduled time to meet...**

The mission was simple enough; as in nothing I couldn't do. France wasn't on the best terms with the family so it would be too suspicious if he got involved, and from what Prussia told me, he couldn't do it because the head of the family was dating an old acquaintance of his. And apparently Spain's 'expertise' didn't involve reconnoissance, so that's where I come in. They would just be helping me behind the scenes until the proper time came. Meanwhile, I needed to integrate myself in the household staff, and gain the family's complete trust. I had two weeks until the three _idioti _would come and distract them, giving me the time I needed to copy the file. They would never even know that their file was hacked due to the distraction. At the same time, I was ordered to place a special virus of mine into the terminal. If anyone tried to access the file again, it would destroy the original file as well as anything else that was connected to it. Since the terminal could only be accessed manually, it was practically an open portal to the rest of their information network. Everything would be destroyed completely, giving the Union an edge over their rivals. It will kill two fucked birds with one stone.

After I'm done, I'll simply quit my job. With my façade, it won't seem too unnatural for me due to being 'too scared for my life' because of the attack. Besides, others were bound to do the same if the _idioti_ did their jobs right.

I sigh and look at the stars from on top of my apartment complex's roof. I have another hour to kill until they wanted to meet with me, in order to give me the rest of my equipment such as my communicator. I fucking hate to admit it, but despite them all being _idioti_, they did know what they were doing. Not like I would ever admit it to them though!

I see another star fall from the heavens. My mind starts wandering off to thoughts about Spain. I haven't seen him at all in the past week other than my first encounter, despite being next door neighbors. For some reason, that look in his eyes keeps bothering me. I roughly move a hand through my hair, consciously ignoring my curl. Damn _idiota_ invading my thoughts! It's all his fault!

"You probably already know that the real stars aren't there anymore, ever since Contractors came to be ten years ago. But did you know that the stars are now Contractors instead?" My head abruptly turns around to see Spain about five feet away, looking up at the stars. I don't know what to say so I remain silent.

"The sky is ours...when a Contractor is born, so is a star," he continues, "And every time a star falls, a Contractor, somewhere in the world, is taking their last breath..."

His eyes then suddenly fall on me, and my heart feels like it skips a beat. His eyes...

Why is he looking at me like that?

Slowly, he comes over and sits next to me before staring back up at the night sky.

"Prussia wanted me to give you a ride to the place. You don't own a car and since we're neighbors, it won't look too suspicious if we're together," he states simply. I nod in response, I don't know what to say to him. I wasn't bothered at all by the fact that he tried to kill me, he is a Contractor after all. But the question I keep asking myself is: why?

"Don't worry, I won't try to kill you again," he says, as though reading my mind. He continues to stare at the stars. I roll my eyes.

"Like I would be worried about that, _bastardo_!" I retort before adding, "I'd also like to see you fucking try!" Who did this motherfucker think he is? He looks back at me, smiling widely.

"Don't tempt me," he jokes, laughing. Though there was something off about it, I decide to just ignore it.

"It would jeopardize the entire mission _if_ you actually succeeded in killing me. So it wouldn't be rational if you did," I state matter-of-factly.

"You're right, it wouldn't be but..." he says, his sentence trailing off. I wait to see if he'll finish but he never does. We sit in silence for a bit.

"France's power puts you in a trance-like state where it makes you reveal any secret, whether it's deep in your subconscious or not, just by kissing someone on the lips. However, you black out and can't remember anything in the past day or so," he says suddenly. I raise an eyebrow at him at the random statement.

"Why the fuck would he try to do that to me?" I ask.

"Because he wanted to use his Obeisance with you," he says simply while shrugging, as if that explained everything.

"His what?" I ask, still confused.

"His Obeisance," he states again. Ok, now I was starting to get pissed.

"What the fuck is 'Obeisance'? And what the hell does that have to do with me?" I ask. Spain just rapidly blinks his eyes at me, looking really confused.

"You're a Contractor, ¿_si_? So you already know what I'm talking about because you have one too," he says, continuing to look at me with a confused expression.

"Have _what_?" I ask, exasperated. This was getting really fucking old. He's about to respond, with what I'm guessing to be something pointless, when I cut him off.

"I _mean_, what the fuck is 'Obeisance'? Because I don't think I have whatever you're talking about," I respond. His eyes widen in realization. Took him long enough.

"You mean...you don't have an Obeisance to preform after you use your powers?" he whispers, more to himself than me. I don't respond, waiting for him to explain. After a moment, he sighs and continues.

"Obeisance, or Contract, is what a Contractor must do in order to use their powers. It's inevitable and it varies from Contractor to Contractor," he answers, looking back up at the stars. A thought crosses my mind, connecting the new information from what he said earlier.

"So...what is France's Obeisance?" I ask apprehensively. He turns in order to give me a meaningful look.

"I believe France calls it 'making love'," he tells me, carefully watching my expression. It takes awhile for my brain to comprehend what he just said.

The _vino_ bastard was planning on...

I almost scream in horror but a hand makes its way to cover my mouth, making me blush. Why is it that I blush whenever he touches me? Goddamnit!

"Remember, you have an act to keep up, so don't be too loud," he explains softly, slowly taking his hand away when he figures that I would comply.

I listen to him for once and remain quiet, though I'm seething in the inside. I am going to _kill_ that motherfucker if it's the last thing I do!

"And don't kill France, _por favor_. Believe it or not, he's vital to our missions. Just be careful around him," Spain says, reading my thoughts again. How the hell does he keep doing that?

Another moment passes before Spain stands up and stretches.

"Well, I guess we should be heading out then," Spain says, looking down at me and smiling.

I don't say anything as I'm about to get up, however I see a hand near my face and I look up to see Spain offer me his hand. Without a second thought, I take it, allowing him to help me up.

"Shall we, _querido_?" he asks, offering me his other arm. I twitch and forcibly shove his arm away from me, that fucking tomato _bastardo_!

"I'm not a motherfucking girl, _idiota_!" I bristle, before stomping away in a very manly manner. I hear his laughter behind me as I climb down the ladder so that I can get on the ground floor of the apartments. I'm safely on the ground before I hear the _bastardo_ doing the same.

"You would look so cute in a dress though!~" he sings, landing on the ground after me. He then turns around to give me a wide grin. My face heats up, what the fuck! I swear...if I didn't have to meet those _idioti_, I would castrate him!

"Shut up and just get your car so we can go already," I say, trying my hardest not to blush and to calm down. Needless to say, neither was working.

"Car?" he asks, sounding genuinely confused.

"Yes, a motherfucking car! How else are we gonna get there, _bastardo_?" I ask, repeating the phrase over and over in my head: don't kill him, don't kill him, don't kill him...

"Oh!" he says, laughing, "I don't have a car, silly!" I turn my head to stare at him. I'm about to ask him how else we would fucking get there but he interrupts me.

"I have a motorcycle!" he exclaims in that fake happy tone of his. Wait, but that means that I'd have to...

"There is no fucking way that I'm riding a motorcycle with you, tomato _bastardo_!" I declare, folding my arms across my chest. There was no way that I would be doing that unless Hell freezes over.

"But Angelo, you're going to be late~" he whines, while...pouting? Is he seriously pouting? What the fuck!

Unfortunately, he's right...this _is_ a mission that we're on. I groan while my face heats up in full force at the thought. Apparently Hell just froze over...I just _knew_ that this mission was going to be a motherfucking pain.

"Fine. But that means I need to go change into my suit before we go. Fucking shit..." I mumble before heading off to my apartment to change. When I'm done, I meet Spain outside my apartment as we head over to his garage door that's marked ten. When we're inside, he grabs two black helmets from his table and hands one to me before putting his own on his head. I sigh and do the same. He goes on the motorcycle and starts it, before turning around and patting the seat behind him.

Fuck my life.

Thankfully, he can't see my blush anymore due to the helmet, as I sit on the seat behind him. Before I can decide on what I should do with my hands, he takes one in each hand and wraps them around his waist securely. I didn't think my face could get any warmer, but apparently tonight is the night that God decided that I should be proven wrong.

He then quickly leaves the apartment complex after making sure the garage door closes behind us, heading towards the city. After twenty minutes or so, we arrive at our first destination, a restaurant on the upper East side. Spain stops to let me off, grabbing my helmet from me in order to firmly strap in on the back so it wouldn't fall off. I'm about to go in but he grabs my hand almost tenderly. That thought makes me turn around, only to be staring at my own reflection due to his helmet's face shield.

"Good luck, _querido_," he whispers, so softly that I'm not sure if I hear it correctly. I snatch my hand back, blushing.

"Yeah, yeah. Tomato _bastardo_..." I grumble, making myself not watch him while he drives away. When I enter, I notice France sitting at the bar with a glass of wine, with Prussia working as a bartender. I go over and ignore France while I order a Bulleit Neat from the bastard. I feel France put his arm around my waist, as well as barely feeling him place a small package in my suit's side pocket. Using my façade, I pretend to be timid and carefully move away from the _vino _bastard politely. Telling him that I was only there to calm my nerves. When Prussia gives me my shot, I take it and drink it, before kindly giving France the excuse that I had to go to work. He lets go with a whine before trying to chat up Prussia. I stop myself from rolling my eyes, I honestly can't tell if that fucker was faking or not.

I give Prussia a small tip before heading out of the restaurant and towards my main destination, pulling out the small package from my pocket. I open it to reveal the required pair of white gloves that held a small, special, communicator that I wouldn't need until later. It looked like a simple bluetooth so it wouldn't cause any suspicion if they saw me with it.

I throw away the package wrapper in a trash can before putting on the gloves. I walk into the servant's entrance to the building of my main destination and see security guards all over the place. One of them calls me over for security reasons. They use a metal detector on me, where it beeps at my left pocket. Asking me to pull whatever is in it out, I show them an innocent looking phone and 'bluetooth'.

I am then escorted to an elevator where there is another security guard inside, before he takes me up to the penthouse floor. Security really is tight in here. I smile to myself, this should be interesting.

We're walking out of the elevator and into the giant kitchen where the rest of the butlers were. After the rundown of what was to be served and how, they gave us our platters as well as the food. We then all walk out of the kitchen together, while I carefully balance my metal platter. I am about to grab a bowl to give it to one of the stuck-up rich bitches, when I see the clumsy ass of a butler next to me, trip. Though he's able to not fall flat on his face, his platter with the food is out of his grasp. Without a second thought, I easily catch the platter in a way that keeps everything on top in nearly perfect order. The _idiota_ just stares at me, his face bright red in embarrassment with his mouth open while I make myself bashfully laugh.

Though this place is making me recall what murderous intent feels like.

"How t-the...h-how did y-you..." he stutters, the whole dining room silent. I stand up straight and gently smile at him.

"What can I say...I'm one hell of a butler. Besides...what kind of butler would I be if I can't do this one simple thing for the Edelstein family," I say as I continue to smile at him.

Nobody says anything, probably due to the shock of what happened. Though the Union helped me with getting the job interview that I was in right now, I went ahead and made myself a fake recommendation from a famous butler agency in Europe while I got France to pretend to be one of their representatives. They are well known for having the best and most trusted butlers in the world so, although it may seem a bit weird that I could do this, they won't question it. They'll just assume that I'm just really good at what I do. I mentally smirk to myself, it looks like I've already gotten the job for being one of the new butlers for Roderich Edelstein.

Stealing S.I.L.E.S.I.A. will be a fucking easy.

* * *

_A/N: Please don't kill me about the Spain V.S. Romano scene! It should make more sense later on (if it doesn't already) as to why Spain attacked Romano. Romano explained the first half of it anyway. I'm gonna see if you guys can figure out the rest (I hope you don't hate me even more for that lol). A heads up: the next chapter will be through Romano's POV, not Spain's._

_'Fun' Fact: Bulliet Neat is supposedly just a straight shot of bourbon without any ice. It's supposedly a 'very manly' drink lol._

_I also wonder if people will notice the other references other than the obvious one (hint, hint!)_

_Oh, and I can't believe it but I completely forgot to thank Lawn Kat for proofreading this chapter and my last one. She's agreed to be my Beta from now on too. Thank you so very much! I really appreciate it!_

_Thank you for reading and review, por favor!~_

_love&undead dinosaurs, decorusvita_


	5. Small World

_A/N: Sorry, this took A LOT longer than necessary...it kept sounding wrong to me...and I was also sidetracked with _O'Death _lol. Anyway, I hope this chapter and the next one will make up for the long time of not updating? On a different note, I fixed the last chapter...some of it just wasn't written the way I wanted it to be. So, you don't have to reread it in order to know what's going on (the plot is still the same), I just thought I should let y'all know. Btw...please let me know if you think there's too much swearing from Romano lol. Lawn Kat thinks there is, and I'm trying to tone it down a bit, but I'd also like your opinion on the matter. To be honest, I was getting my inspiration from my elementary school days (cough, cough), so...yeah! Thank you and enjoy!~_

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* * *

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**Small World**

"I can't believe that I actually got the job," I say, making myself laugh nervously into my 'bluetooth' as I unpack the remainder of my clothes into the closet of my new room. The job interview from a couple nights ago was a success and as a result, I was required to stay in the servants' quarters of the building until the the Edelstein Benefit was over. Everything was going according to plan so far.

"Gut," came the reply from my earpiece, "_Just remember, keep your head down and play your part well. If anyone gets too suspicious, get out as quickly and discreetly as possible. Contact us only when you find out anything that's vital to the mission. You have two weeks until the Benefit to find it, _verstehen, _Italy_?"

"Yeah, I know, _nonno_. But I have to go work now, I'll talk to you later," I reply in fake happiness, before the line goes dead and I close the closet door with a bit more force than necessary. Goddamnit, why did he have to call me _that _name? Stupid bastard!

I take off the 'bluetooth' from my ear and set it down on the small table next to my bed. At least he was somewhat useful and gave me a top notch communicator. It would only work correctly if you called using my new personal phone, and I would be carrying that with me at all times. Which wouldn't be too strange as most people were so fucking weird about their cell phones these days. They were always carrying the things around with them. But most importantly, it means that after the Benefit and I was gone, if anyone got suspicious of me and decided to look at my phone records, it would only show up as me contacting Romulus in Italy.

It really is amazing what you can do with technology if you knew your way around the system. Which I did, obviously.

"Angelo?"

I instinctually turn around at the name to see the head butler, Tanaka, standing in my doorway. Tanaka was an older Japanese man that was around the same height as me, and had short black hair that was slicked back. He also wore the customary suit, along with a pair of glasses over brown eyes.

"Ah, there you are, Angelo! We have some guests in the front hall that are waiting to meet Master Edelstein. Would you please take them to the Master's study? I would do it myself but I have to check with Yao on tonight's dinner plans and I-"

"It's no problem," I interrupt kindly, laughing. He smiles back at me sheepishly, before joining me in my laughter. Despite the fact that I was using my façade, I had to admit that the guy wasn't half bad, albeit a bit timid at times. It would almost be a shame if Spain killed him at the benefit.

"Thank you, Angelo, I owe you one," he promises. I smile in response as he quickly goes down towards the kitchens. I then grab my white gloves and put them on before proceeding to the front hall. I'm not even half way there when I start to hear a loud commotion, though I wasn't able to hear the actual words until I enter the room.

"Bloody git, get your arm off of me!"

"You're no fun, Artie!~"

"Don't call me that!"

I recognize the two men immediately, though I didn't show it physically. Prussia gave me their pictures and background information on the flash drive and told me to look out for them. Looks like I'll have to confirm it with him as soon as possible.

The taller blonde man was Alfred F. Jones, a human policeman that works as the Section-Chief for Section 4 in the Foreign Affairs Department of New York City. Apparently, from the data that I was given, his section of the agency knew, and was in charge of, keeping Contractors a secret from the general public in New York. As well as doing what was necessary to keep humans as safe as possible. From the personal information I received about him, including various interviews, he has quite the hero complex.

How fucking juvenile.

His arm is around the shoulder of another, and shorter, blonde man with thick eyebrows. There was no mistake from those eyebrows; that that was Arthur Kirkland, an English Contractor that was hired to be the American's 'partner'. He was brought in specifically to help catch Spain, who Jones has been trying to neutralize for awhile now. So he's the one that Spain has an old grudge with...how ironic since he has the power to manipulate water as oppose to Spain's power to create and control fire.

Now that I think about it...the only reason I know that is because the tomato _bastardo_ told me when he picked me up after the job interview. I can recall the memory of his idiotic laughter when he tells me that he should probably let me know with the Benefit coming up and everything. I inwardly growl at the memory, fucking jackass!

I immediately push the thought away and, though the two haven't noticed me yet, I make myself smile at them in case someone happens to look at me. The two were still bickering over something that was obviously meaningless.

I know Prussia warned me to not underestimate them, but it was extremely hard not to. But then again, those three are fucking _idioti_ and they're still somewhat good at what they do. I guess God does compensate once in awhile.

"Gentlemen," I announce, unable take their bickering any longer. Thankfully, I'm able to immediately grab their attention. I continue to smile at them before bowing my head in respect, "Please come with me, Master Edelstein should be arriving from work shortly."

With that, I straighten myself up before leading them through the vast penthouse and to the ordered destination. The study was circular in shape, and was covered in bookshelves of various texts, except for a scenic painting on the far wall. In front of the painting was an old-fashioned desk along with two extra chairs for guests. In the center of the room, there was an oval table with two velvet couches on either side. I motion for them to sit down wherever they felt comfortable.

"Is there anything I can get for you gentlemen, while you wait for Master Edelstein?" I ask politely.

"Tea. Earl Gray. Hot."

"And the hero will have some coffee!"

I resist rolling my eyes on his self-proclaimed title and bow once more before heading down to the kitchens to get them their drinks. Upon entering the kitchen, I suddenly wish that I didn't have to be there.

"I can't serve that, aru! It doesn't taste right, aru!

"But it tastes _fine_, and you've prepared it seven times already!"

"I'm not serving it to _anyone _until I get it right, aru!

I sigh as I watch Tanaka and Yao continue to argue about the food..._again_. I didn't think it was even _possible_ to argue three times a day, seven days a week, on the same topic, over and over again. I start to feel the beginnings of a headache as their repetitive argument continues.

It can't possibly be a good thing that I'm already use to this shit.

I decide to not even bother to acknowledge the two as I walk around the pair so that I can boil some water for the tea, as well as start the coffee maker. While I wait for the water to finish boiling, I grab an ornate tray from the cupboard and set two matching teacups and saucers on it, along with everything else that was required for the coffee. When I finish, I notice some freshly made scones in the corner of my eye. I mentally shrug, why not? It would be something that 'Angelo' would do.

I start to hear their voices steadily rise in volume behind me as I rummage through the cupboard again to find an appropriate plate for the scones. I could've sworn that I saw one earlier that would be perfect. Why doesn't anyone put things where they fucking belong...

The kettle starts whistling when I finally find the plate that I'm looking for. When I'm done putting the plate of scones on the tray, I grab the kettle and pour the hot liquid into the teapot, as well as in the teacup containing the Earl Gray blend. At this point, Tanaka and Yao are practically screaming at each other. Even if I had the desire to, I had no idea what they were saying anymore, the language now a mixture of Chinese and Japanese. After the coffee is done, I pour the coffee into the other cup and set the coffee pot on a heating plate before carefully picking up the tray and taking it out of the kitchen with me.

As I push pass the kitchen's saloon doors, I hear the familiar 'whack' and Tanaka yelling at the Chinaman for hitting him on the head with his wok. Tanaka must've attempted to take away Yao's favorite ladle again.

Since my hands were busy holding the tray, I simply walk in the study to find Roderich Edelstein sitting behind his desk while discussing something serious with the two policemen. They immediately stop talking when I enter the room, all turning look at me at the same time. Keeping up with my façade, I set the tray on the coffee table and smile nervously.

"Forgive me, Master Edelstein. I was unable to knock and the door was open. May I get you anything?"

He shakes his head at me,

"No...Angelo, was it? That will be all. You're excused. Please close the door behind you as you leave."

I bow and head out of the room. Before I close the double french doors, I hear the American exclaim happily at his coffee while the British Contractor tells him to shut up and act professional. My eye twitches involuntarily, they sound like some old married couple.

After I close the doors, I sigh deeply. I can already tell that this is going to be a _long_ two weeks.

**Five days later...**

I grumble to myself as I put on my tie while also making sure that I am looking my best in the full length mirror of my room (I _am _Italian after all). Things have gotten more complicated, especially now that the English Contractor and that fucking American are confirmed to be involved with the Benefit's security this year. Apparently, this wasn't the first time those three (Prussia specifically) have targeted the Edelstein Household. So now they're going to only send in Spain as the distraction, as well as have him give me my necessary hacking equipment. Prussia and the _vino_ bastard said it was because they didn't want to recklessly risk their lives since Spain will be forced to not hold back...whatever the fuck that means. Whatever, as long as that tomato _bastardo_ does his damn job, I don't fucking care _who's_ distracting the household.

Not only that, I practically looked everywhere for the fucking terminal when I was given the chance, but with no such luck so far. I pause and close my eyes for a bit so that I can picture the building layout that Prussia gave me before, going through each room in detail like a checklist. The only places that it could possibly be in where I haven't checked yet, is the family quarters and Roderich's study. I was fairly certain that it was in the study but I haven't been able to thoroughly search there yet, and I wasn't going to compromise the mission on a guess. Especially since I had no clue where it could be in that room, and I would only have about a thirty minute window to go to the study and hack the terminal. I needed some kind of proof, and hopefully my new plan would provide me with just that.

"Angelo, Master Edelstein would like to see you in his study."

I turn around to see Tom, the clumsy butler from the job interview. At first, I had no fucking _clue_ on how he got the job to begin with. It certainly wasn't due to his 'skills' or mannerisms. My question was soon answered when I found out from Tanaka that Roderich was practically forced to hire him, due to a favor from an old friend. He's so motherfucking annoying! He never leaves me the fuck alone!

On a lighter note, maybe I won't need to use my plan after all.

I smile at him pleasantly and slowly put on my gloves before finally responding to him.

"Of course...thank you, Thomas. I'll be sure to head over there right away."

I know he hates being called by his full name, so it doesn't surprise me when he scowls and mutters a 'whatever' before walking off. I roll my eyes at him, it was painfully _obvious_ that he suspected me of something since day one, though I knew he had nothing even remotely concrete against me. Personally, I think it was just human jealousy that explained why he was being such a _stronzo_. He was always doing one thing or another to try and piss me off. Like earlier this week, when he 'accidentally' spilled scorching hot tea all over me. The only reason I didn't have to go to the emergency room was because of my body being able to automatically heal itself. Thankfully, I was able to convince everyone (including that _idiota_) that the tea wasn't all that hot to begin with. He even had the nerve to smirk at me when he thought that no one else was looking.

...

Let's just say that the extra strength laxatives in his evening soup was no coincidence. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the memory, that fucker was in the bathroom for _days_.

I also gained a whole new appreciation for Tanaka that day. I never expected _him_ to be so devious, especially since it involved food.

I shake my head at the thought, saving it for later. I was suppose to meet Roderich in his study. Right.

I leave my room while closing the already locked door behind me. I notice Tom at the corner of my eye with, what looked to be, Tanaka's master key. I mentally twitch, are you fucking serious? I ignore him and continue to go down the hall and towards the study. I'm not even that far down when I hear him using the key to open my door. I let out a frustrated sigh, what a fucking _idiota_. Even _if_ he knew that I was spy, did he _really_ think I would be stupid enough to have something so obvious in my possession just lying around, let alone actually bring it?

I'm right outside the study door and am about to knock on it when I see Tanaka coming towards me with a distressed look on his face. Before he is able to even say anything, I answer his unasked question.

"Tom, and he's in my room."

Tanaka's expression turns from confused to eerily calm in a matter of seconds as he gives me a curt nod and heads in that direction. I smirk, I've got to remember to ask Tanaka about what happened later. Finally knocking on one of the doors, I hear a faint 'come in' and open them. As expected, Roderich is behind his desk and writing something down in his music book, like he always is.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" I ask, remaining in front of the now closed doors. It's better if I wait for him to tell me what he wants. On cue, he tells me to take a seat in one of the two chairs that resides in front of the desk. He doesn't even bother to look at me when I walk over and sit in the assigned chair. While I wait for him to finally tell me what he fucking wanted, something peculiar catches my eye. I notice that the portrait behind Roderich is not in the same place it was last time I was here. It was tilted to the left by three centimeters, something that most people wouldn't notice. Coincidence? Not possible. As from what I've been told from Prussia's information, as well as the staff here, Roderich is very particular and has the maids only clean this room once a week. And I know for a fact that the last time they cleaned this room was five days ago, when the two policemen came over. The painting was too high up to be bumped into simply by accident, so that wasn't at all a possibility. There can only be one reason as to why it would not be in the same place as before.

"Beautiful, isn't it? My grandmother painted it."

I blink as I'm pulled out of my thoughts and look at Roderich, immediately noticing his soft expression. He assumed that I was appreciating the painting. Remembering what the files said about him enjoying the arts, I nod in response and give him a small smile.

"It really is...I like how she created it by using watercolor as well as oil paints. I've never seen it done before, but she makes it work," I state, making my face look serene.

"I thought the exact same thing..." he responds, his eyes showing that he wasn't quite there in the moment. Though I look patient on the surface, I really just wanted to hit him on the head so that he could tell me what he fucking wanted already. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long before he lightly shakes his head and coughs, his face becoming stern again. Though, he has a slight blush on his face from embarrassment.

"My apologies. Anyway, the reason I called you here was because I was informed that you and Thomas are having some...'issues' at the moment," I keep myself from rolling my eyes, you could call it that, "And I wanted to check with both of you to make sure that it would, in no way, interfere with the Benefit. Do I make myself clear?"

I laugh weakly and move my hands up in a defensive position.

"Of course, sir. I would never even dream of doing anything of the sort," I answer nervously, though I was _far _from being nervous.

I mean, what a motherfucking prick!

"Good. You're excused then," he orders, going back to writing in his music book. I stand up from my chair and bow politely (though somewhat more stiffly) before exiting the room. I head off towards the kitchens, where Tanaka was most likely to be, so that I ask him what happened with Tom.

Since today was such a productive day, maybe he was eaten alive by Yao's pet panda or something.

After all, it looks like I finally found where the goddamn terminal was.

**Right before the Benefit officially starts...**

"Angelo, did you make sure-"

"Yes, Tanaka, I did! And they look _perfect_!" I exclaim, exasperated. I was currently trying to get him to stop fiddling with the silverware on the dining room tables so that he could go check on Yao in the kitchen. Acting like the good-natured Angelo, it would be out of character for me to just let him forget about the Chinaman. Especially since _everyone_ knew that Tanaka was the only one that got Yao to actually serve anything around here. So I decide to try another strategy and remind him of that simple fact.

"Tanaka, you need to go to the kitchen, _now_. You know how Yao gets when it comes to-"

"Aiya! The food!" he yells, running off to the direction of the kitchens. I take a deep breathe and straighten out my slightly ruffled tuxedo. Damn, that old Japanese guy was really fast when it came to food-related things! He kinda reminds me of-

"Angelo!"

I twitch, goddamnit, what now? I turn around to see some random butler run up to me in panic. Dear God, I couldn't fucking _wait _to leave this place! That _idiota _needs to hurry up already, damnit!

"What is it?" I ask calmly, though feeling anything but.

"Lady Héderváry has just arrived and you have been asked to escort her to-"

BANG!

Immediately, both of us turn to the direction of the kitchens. Fucking shit! What were those two doing now?

"I'm going to go check that out, you can escort Lady Héderváry to..." I wave my hand around, trying to remember the word but then realize that I wasn't even told yet where I was suppose to escort her to, "wherever she needs to be escorted to," I end lamely. Nice, Lovino...nice.

"But, Angelo, Master Edelstein has entrusted you-"

Another loud 'BANG' is heard which makes me run over to the direction of the kitchens. The guests were already here and waiting to enter the ballroom. How these fuckers got anything done before I came, I had no fucking clue! I don't bother to even look back at the, probably baffled, butler when I answer.

"I know, I know! Just cover for me or we won't be serving the guests _anything_ tonight."

I don't hear his response as I head on down to the kitchens and forcibly push through the kitchen's saloon doors. I can smell something awful burning before I even enter the room. What the fuck could those two be possibly doi-

I immediately halt when I see the entire kitchen covered in red. Bodies were scattered throughout the massive space; some of them were burned beyond recognition while the rest were ruthlessly hacked into pieces, their insides now decorating the once white walls and counters. Now that I was in the kitchen, I realize that the burning smell from before was of human flesh, making me almost want to throw up. I finally look to the center of the room, only to see a badly beaten up Tanaka and Yao on the ground, a tall man holding them in place with only his foot. I let out a breathe I had apparently been holding in when I realize that the two are still alive, though barely. The man holding them down has a long red overcoat on, as well as a mask that covered the upper half of his face, including the color of his eyes. The mask was a simple, white, masquerade mask that had an intricate gold pattern around its borders. He was balancing a black halberd on his shoulder with one hand while he used his other hand to eat a...tomato?

The man turns to me, a couple of brown locks falling in his face as he does so, and smiles a dark grin at me.

"_Hola, __cariño_."

Spain.

I keep my face in a state of shock while I internally smirk; so the real mission finally begins.

I look down when I notice Tanaka looking up at me, and I can barely hear him ordering me to run away and to warn the others. And with that, the lights go off and I hear screams coming from another room, no doubt from the other confused household members. Looks like Prussia was able to finally cut off the main power with the instructions I gave him. As soon as the backup generator turns on, I run out of the kitchen and towards the ballroom again, shouting at the people that I do see to get out. Hopefully, Spain would block me so that I'd have a valid reason to run towards the-

I don't even finish my thought when I suddenly see Spain jump in front of me, swinging his halberd into the other staff members without warning. The butlers and maids who weren't killed in the initial attack were desperately trying to get away and I used the distraction to run in the opposite direction and towards the study. I notice that some others go in the same general direction as I do. That's good, it'll look less suspicious if I'm not the only one. As I'm running, I hear the agonizing screams of the poor bastards that couldn't get away in time. I ignore the sudden tightness in my chest when I hear those sounds.

I'm halfway to the study when I hear something loud coming my way, I halt my movements instinctually, only to notice a new hole in the wall right where I would have stood. The wall was roughly torn up from the blast. It was obviously a powerful weapon and from the looks of it, caused by a shotgun. Wait, a shotgun! Who the fuck still uses a motherfucking shotgun?

"What's the rush, 'Angelo'? If that _is_ your real name..."

I turn my head to see Tom coming out of an open room, smirking triumphantly at me. I groan, of course...it _had_ to be Tom. Thankfully, I dodged getting hit (because _that_ would be impossible to explain), but _cazzo_...how to get rid of this _idiota_ now. It was obvious that he had no intention of letting me pass, nor listen to any excuse I could easily come up with. I could kill him, but I was under a time limit and I couldn't afford to get messy and lose my cover now.

He's about to open his mouth to say something else but he suddenly bursts into blue flames, screaming in agony as he was being burned alive. I could do without the strong stench of burning flesh, but hey, that worked out perfectly.

"I guess I _can_ change the colors! Maybe I can make them pink next time~"

I turn in time to see Spain plop the rest of the tomato in his mouth, his bloody halberd being dragged on the ground behind him. He unsnaps the sling backpack of equipment off himself, and is about to toss it to me, but he's interrupted by a mocking voice.

"There you are, Spain. And here I was afraid that I wouldn't run into you."

I see Spain's body immediately tense up, the atmosphere in the room turning surprisingly dark. My head whips around towards the voice to see Arthur Kirkland come out of a room, an arrogant smile on his face.

"England," Spain replies in a voice that makes a shiver run down my spine. I've never heard such a venomous tone come out of the _bastardo's_ mouth. It was too damn easy to forget about his 'Red Conquistador' reputation sometimes.

"It's not 'England', anymore you git," he laughs humorlessly before adding, "Still wearing the mask, I see? It really is a shame that I never got to see your face. You never did trust me..."

"For good reason," he states coldly.

"You even refused to let me meet with your 'buddies', France and Prussia in person, who I'm guessing, is in on this little 'mission'?" Spain doesn't respond, though his body was still tense in preparation of an inevitable fight.

"Not talking, huh? How unlike a proper gentleman. Fine...let's finish this then, Mr. Red Conquistador!" he yells at the end, putting his hand on the side of the wall, his eyes now glowing a bright red. Water bursts through the wall, a dense line heading in a straight and direct line towards Spain. The water rushes past me in order to hit its target, but Spain dodges the attack easily by running along the wall.

Spain soon lands near me, tossing the bag next to me before swiftly throwing his halberd at Kirkland like a lance. Though he misses his intended target, he's still able to knick his side deep enough to hinder his movements. So why was Kirkland smirking...?

I hear something behind me and I turn to realize that the water was coming right towards...me? My eyes widen, _cazzo_, this wasn't good! I couldn't lose my cover and dodge it, and I couldn't get close or fast enough to Kirkland to use my power on him.

Before I can decide on what course of action I should take, I feel my body get pushed out of the way. I turn my head in time to see Spain's arm reaching out to me from the action. However, as a result, he doesn't have enough time to dodge the water as it hits him square in the chest, the force of the water pushing him into the wall and making a loud cracking noise. My insides go cold, I couldn't tell what made that noise, the wall or his bones.

"Really now, Spain...I was not expecting that from _you_. So I was correct, you _were _saving him before...are you seriously that interested in the boy?" Kirkland ridicules, making me turn to look back at him. While he's talking, he grabs a flask from his coat and chugs it before his eyes go bright red again. I automatically look back at Spain and see that he's now pinned to the wall with the water before he had a real chance to move. I watch in horror as it gradually starts to encase itself around Spain's head. Spain starts thrashing violently when he realizes what's going on, steam rising from his watery restraints but with little success. There was just too much water replacing what he was burning. My insides get impossibly colder at the realization that he was slowly drowning Spain.

"Goodbye, Mr. Red Conquistador," he whispers, a triumphant smirk on his face as Spain's movements become increasingly weaker before finally stopping altogether. My brain doesn't register what I'm doing until I find myself with my palm gripping the English bastard's forehead. His eyes widen in shock at, what I'm guessing to be, my now bright red eyes. But before Kirkland can say or do anything, I forcibly push his head down into the ground. Behind me, I hear a loud thump, as well as the sound of water crashing down. It was pooling around me now, since the bastard wasn't concentrating on controlling the water anymore. I act quickly, feeling the nostalgic spark in my chest manifest before it travels through my arm and makes its way into the English bastard's skull.

In a split second, I feel the spark travel through the familiar routes and passages, knowing exactly where I wanted it to go. When it finally reaches the cerebrum, my mind screams out the command:

_Forget!_

As soon as the command passes through my mind, I see his eyes roll in the back of his head before his body goes limp. I gasp in a huge breathe, practically falling backwards as my strength is quickly being drained from my body. Goddamnit, I haven't been forced to resort to that in such a long time. That tomato_ bastardo_ better be fucking grateful!

And that's when it hits me like a ton of bricks.

_Spagna._

At the thought of his name, I turn to see Spain slumped on the floor, his form unmoving. I force my body to get up and to go towards him. I stumble down to his level and place one hand to hold his head up, the other on his chest. I immediately flinch at the coldness of his skin. I'm unable to feel any movement from his chest, and that's when I realize that that's because he doesn't have a heartbeat anymore. I know I don't have much time left as I frantically take my hands and move it under his damp shirt in order to place them directly over his heart. The familiar spark comes back, making its way into Spain's heart this time.

_Live!_ I scream in my head. Immediately, his heart starts beating again against its will and I hear a gargling sound coming from above me. I look up to see Spain violently coughing up water.

"_¿Querido?_" he asks, his voice raspy. I almost laugh out loud from relief, but my body was exhausted, not to mention that I still had a job to finish. But first...

"Can you get up, _bastardo_?" I ask quietly. He nods but when he tries to, an involuntary hiss passes through his lips. I use the hand that was still on his chest to firmly keep him in place against the wall. Using the rest of my energy that wouldn't take away from me completing the mission, I feel the familiar spark for a third time. Closing my eyes, I assess the damage: he had a bunch of broken ribs, multiple fractures in his spine, and water damaged lungs, as well as a small concussion. Stupid tomato _bastardo_, if he hadn't tried to protect me again, he would be-

I violently shake my head at the foreign thoughts, what the fuck was wrong with me? 'Again'? Where the fuck did that come from? I ignore the strange thoughts and make myself concentrate on the situation at hand. I use the same spark, and direct them to each destination simultaneously. Slowly, the bones readjust, while they, and the muscle tissue, heal themselves as the swelling in his brain goes away. At the same time, I notice Spain's breathing becoming more normal as his wounds begin to disappear. When I finish, I nearly collapse on top of him, my head falling in the crook of his neck. Strangely, the action makes my chest feel warmer in temperature. If it weren't for my hands on his chest, I would've completely collapsed on him, my energy practically gone now. My body wasn't physically injured, so I had to wait longer than usual for my body to fully regain its energy. Cazzo...now was _not_ the time to be resting!

I feel a pair of strong arms surround me as I'm carefully being lifted up with him. I let my hands fall down with the motion, and I feel one arm continue to hold me up by my waist. I can barely see the other one going to the holster on his leg. He takes a tomato out and starts eating it quickly, his face staring at the direction of the now unconscious Contractor on the floor; no doubt planning on finishing him off. I weakly grab his hand before he can take another bite.

"There's no point in killing him, he's already been taken care of; he won't remember anything that happened tonight. Besides, I need to go to the terminal and hack S.I.L.E.S.I.A., and _your_ mission is to _distract _the household. _Not_ waste time with old grudges." His grip slightly tightens around my waist, telling me that he knew that I was right, albeit reluctantly.

"And what is your power exactly?" he ponders, looking down at me. I let myself chuckle at his curiosity, as well at the irony that the _bastardo _seems to be a _lot_ sharper when it involves a mission.

"Now's not the time to explain," I promise. I guess it was about time that I let those three _idioti _know anyway. I only withheld the information in the first place to piss Prussia off.

I move my head and push myself away from Spain, barely registering that his hand remains on my waist. My body is at least starting to regain some of its former strength back. Thankfully, if the damn_ bastardo_ did his job right, I wouldn't be fighting anyone any time soon, so it should be fine.

"I'll distract them as much as I can. I'm sure that the American will be looking for his partner soon anyway, so I suggest you get to the terminal and fast," he states logically, before removing his hand from my waist and shoving the rest of the tomato in his mouth. I nod once more and am about to go down the hall, when I feel his gloved hand on my shoulder, making me gently turn around to face him. He's smiling softly, making my face get warm again. Goddamnit, I wish it wouldn't keep doing that! "I don't know how you helped me before...but _gracias_...Romano," he says, continuing to just smile warmly at me.

My eyes widen at the familiar name, the way he said it giving me the feeling that he wasn't referring to my fake civilian name. How does he know about-?

"Japan gave you that codename in the Second Contractor War, ¿_si_?"

He laughs and lets go of my shoulder. For some reason, I feel a bit odd when he does that.

"Later!" he promises before I can respond, grabbing his halberd out of the ground and running down the hall and out of sight around the corner. I twitch, he is such an...such an _idiota_! How he found that out about me is...creepy, to say the least. But at least he's not calling me Italy. Anyway, I need to go finish the fucking job that I was sent here to do. I'm lucky that I already tampered with the house's cameras. It was bad enough that I could've compromised the mission by saving his sorry ass.

...Why _did _I save that tomato _bastardo_, anyway?

My chest immediately feels dead when I recall his lifeless body and how he looked just lying against the wall...I shake my head, halting where my current thoughts were heading. I only did it so that the fucker would do his job and distract the house! That's all, damnnit! I'm a Contractor; like I fucking care about his well-being! I mean, he was probably a pervert too, just like Prussia and that _vino_ bastard! Somewhat satisfied with the affirmation, I slightly limp over towards the study. I still can't believe how fucking predictable the prick was for putting it in there!

Going into the somewhat dark study, I go straight to the scenic portrait, pulling it off the wall. As expected, I see the familiar panel and I pull off my pack (that was thankfully waterproof) and take the 'ipod' from the backpack and connect the cord to the terminal. When it's done automatically hacking for the proper password, I take the cheap laptop from it's case and the flash drive from the pack, and connect them to the terminal as well. Typing down the proper commands, I wait while the file downloads on the flash drive, while pulling out a small disk with my partially pre-made virus from its case. With S.I.L.E.S.I.A. safely downloaded, I pull the flash drive out and secure it into a protective pocket of the backpack. After I make sure that it's in properly, I go back to the laptop and place the disk in the terminal. I then type in the manual part of the hacking program, the numbers ingrained in my mind. After ten minutes or so, I finally complete the code and proudly smirk to myself. Let's see those fuckers try to crack this! I just wish I could see Roderich's stupid-ass face when he tries to open this file again! Payback is certainly a bitch!

I allow myself to gloat for a couple more seconds before I pack everything up and carefully put the painting back into place so that I can head on out. Now to return this to Spain...

The world seems to stop when I suddenly hear _his_ name, which makes me turn around. There, I see Elizabeta Héderváry herself, in the doorway. She's wearing an elegant dark green dress that matches her eyes with long, wavy, hair that goes past her shoulders, an orange flower on top of her head. Her eyes are wide, with what looks to be, recognition.

I don't respond; I'm too stunned. What the fuck is she doing here? Spain should be distracting everyone, damnnit!

But most importantly...

How does she know _him_?

She takes a step closer to me, her arm reaching out to me. But I can only take a step back in response. It was obvious in her eyes that she thought that I was _him_. _He_, who I haven't seen for five years since that day in the rain, when we were betrayed by one of our own.

Everyone kept saying that he was dead, that I should just forget about him...even Romulus was starting to loose hope. But I never would, I simply couldn't. Not when everything I've ever done was for _him_. The fighting, the blood...it was all to protect _him_.

The one person who I've been looking for for so long, but have yet to have found.

"Feliciano...?" she repeats quietly, "Is that really you?"

* * *

_A/N: Ok, so I have the next chapter done but I am waiting for that to now be beta'd, but it should be up soon (sorry!). Also, the chapters will (or rather _should_) go back between alternating with Spain's P.O.V and Romano's. And I'll try to make Spain's chapter longer because I know his chapters have been a lot shorter than Romano's. It's just easier since Spain can be so darn dense! Lol_

_Also, Tanaka in this story isn't the one from _Black Butler_ in _any _way. I remember my roommate reading a manga (_Black Butler_, of course!) and giving the observation that butlers in general seem to always be named Tanaka, so that's where his name comes from! I'm not gonna lie though, _Black Butler_ did give me a bit of inspiration for Romano's experiences at the somewhat dysfunctional household. Lol oh, and Tom/Thomas isn't anyone in particular. I just felt like someone should be there to give Romano a hard time because well, I can just see that happening to him. No offense to anyone named Tom/Thomas, I only used that name because I was watching Tom & Jerry at the time and because the name is pretty generic (in my opinion)._

_By the way, America's position and department is taken straight from the _Darker Than Black_ anime, so...yeah. Also, I know it's annoying that Romano's power isn't completely explained yet but don't worry, it will be explained in more detail soon (if everything goes according to plan)._

_'Fun' Fact: The cerebrum is the part of your brain that controls memories (well, part of what it does)._

_Thank you for reading and please review!~_

_love&undead dinosaurs, decorusvita_


	6. Nightmares

_A/N: Spain will be referring to Lovino as 'Romano' from now on since it's the closest name he feels he can get to Romano's real name (I'm saying this here because of the time skip/perspective changes). However, he'll still be referring to Romano as 'Angelo' in person (obviously)._

_

* * *

_

**Nightmares**

"Spanien! _What the __**fuck**__ is going on in there! Report now!_"

I groan at the yelling from my communicator. Why did Prussia have to be so loud?

"What is it Prussia?" I ask quietly while swinging my halberd into another human. The force makes them split in two instantly, creating a loud cracking noise.

But the sound wasn't beautiful anymore...none of them were.

I sigh and tug a bit to remove my halberd from the wall. As I remove the blade, their insides start tumbling out, turning the wall and surrounding carpet a crimson red. I watch the blood as it starts pooling around my feet, but unlike before, it doesn't pique my interest. It hasn't been the same since my fight with England...

"Spanien! _Are you even listening to me?"_

Prussia's voice snaps me out of my thoughts, and I go ahead and run to a different area of the penthouse, looking for more people so I can distract them from the study. Maybe it was actually a good thing that he was yelling, it was getting difficult to hear him over all the chaos.

"_Lo siento_, can you repeat that?" I ask, running into the dining hall again, only to notice a bunch of security guards in formation, preparing to shoot. I effortlessly dodge them and take cover behind an upturned table before feeling the warmth in my chest, making another explosion right where they were standing. I'm already grabbing a tomato out of my holster and taking a huge bite out of it, when I see various body parts fly by me as a result from my work. I notice the flames on them are orange, not pink like I originally intended. Strangely, that doesn't disappoint me as much as I thought it would. I roughly shove the rest of the tomato in my mouth, what's wrong with me?

I ignore that thought for later and take some time to check my holster so that I can see how much 'ammo' I have left. I feel around and notice that that was my last tomato, which means that I have to rely only on my halberd from here on out.

"Stop right there!"

I abruptly turn my head and see a policeman pointing a gun at me, his hands shaking slightly. But before I can even react, I hear one of the dining hall windows crash as he suddenly topples backwards, a bullet now in his skull.

"Gott_, _Spanien_, I know that I said I would be a lookout and back you up as a sniper if necessary, but that doesn't mean that you can just sit there like some unawesome idiot! Move already!"_

I immediately follow Prussia's orders and run off towards one of the hallways that lead towards the kitchens. I can sense multiple people following me, so I run faster until I find an already opened door, silently slipping inside and using the darkness as a cover. I hear a bunch of footsteps run by soon after, no doubt from the police that are looking for me. They were heading down towards the kitchens, so I allow myself this small opportunity to take a short breather. I needed to replenish my stamina a bit since I would only able to use my halberd from now on. Not a full minute passes by when Prussia's agitated voice comes through my earpiece.

"_Ok, **now **can you explain to me why the fuck your heart rate was at zero for a good minute?"_

My eyes blink rapidly in confusion, what?

"_N-not that the awesome me was worried or anything! Anyway, there's no way that the life monitor that __**I **__gave you would have a glitch, so-"_

"Hold on!" I interrupt, "You said my heart rate was at zero for a minute?" As I am talking, I feel around my neck to where the said monitor was. France and I wore it on missions so that Prussia could check on our vitals, as well as know our locations. I knew it was waterproof so it couldn't be because of my fight with England, nor did it feel damaged in any way. Besides, it sounded like it was working just fine now, so that would mean that I was...dead?

My mind goes slightly blank from the thought, how is that even possible? I know I blacked out for a moment, but could Romano really have-?

"Ja, _I already said that. Make sure the thing is properly on next time, alright! I was almost forced to complete the mission myself. _Verstehen_?"_

For some reason, I decide not to tell Prussia of my suspicions. At least not before asking Romano about it.

"_Entiendo_," I mutter before the line goes dead. Upon exiting the room, I notice the policeman from earlier in the corner of my eye. They also notice me because they start yelling out orders to each other, trying to scramble into a proper formation. Since I couldn't use my powers anymore, I use their ill preparation to my advantage, running in a straight line right towards them with my halberd trailing behind me. It may appear like a foolish move, but I knew better. Humans are so incredibly predictable. What they didn't know was that my trench coat was far from a fashion statement (though I have to admit that I do look rather cool in it). I _am_ a Contractor; I wore it for a very important, and very logical, reason.

I just so happen to rarely need it; I don't think even Alfred Jones knows about it.

I move my other hand to firmly grab my halberd while they predictably shoot at my chest and arms, trying to slow me down. I smirk when I see the horrified looks on their faces when they realize that my trench coat was bulletproof. However, by the time they figure that out, I'm too close and I slice the first three men with my halberd, killing them instantly. When I'm done with those three, I quickly dispose of the other two before they even register what was happening. I look down at their broken bodies, still unable to feel the high that I usually get when I create my masterpieces. Their blood is running down my cheek, falling dangerously close to my mouth. I wipe it off with the palm of my hand without a second thought.

"I SAID SHUT UP, DAMNIT!"

I look up towards the direction of the shout, breathing more heavily due to my chest constricting rather painfully. I knew that voice anywhere, and it sounded like he was in trouble. I quickly pull my halberd out of a human's body and rush towards the direction of the study. I am just about to turn into one of the many hallways that leads there, when I see Romano calmly walking around the corner, carrying Elizabeta Héderváry in his arms. I immediately halt my movements, noticing that something was not quite right. Romano's bangs are covering his eyes while the rest of his face looks so calm, yet I could've sworn I heard him yell earlier...

He carefully sets the human up against the wall before wordlessly tossing me the sling backpack. I catch the bag with little effort, and continue to just stare at his unchanging expression. Because I'm a Contractor, I usually don't even bother to try and understand people. What's the point if I'm only going to kill them? But I couldn't help to notice that something was seriously off with Romano. Despite being cute, he's been swearing or complaining about _something_ since the first day I've met him. I'm about to ask him if he's okay when I hear Prussia's urgent voice in my earpiece.

"_Spain! You need to get out of there with S.I.L.E.S.I.A. **now**! Jones just sent in the S.W.A.T. team! Repeat! Jones just sent in the S.W.A.T. team!"_

As soon as Prussia finishes giving me my new orders, I start to hear quiet shuffling behind me and that's when I bolt down the hall and towards the window at the very end of the hallway. I try to keep my head down and dodge the bullets by moving in a random pattern while I'm running, hearing them pass dangerously close to my head. In the meantime, I use the one hand to swing the sling backpack over me, making sure to keep the bag part of it in front before quickly tightening the straps. I hear the American shout out orders behind me, but I don't pay any attention to them and simply grip the middle of my halberd more tightly. The circular window wasn't exactly the biggest, but I could fit with my halberd if I jumped through it in just the right way. I smirk, guess I'm going to find out soon enough. I jump up on a small table that was on the side of the hallway, using it as leverage to help me push off the wall and towards the window. I use all of my strength to bash my halberd straight into the window, effectively shattering most of it. I then twist my body a bit and stretch out my other arm while I'm in midair, making myself as thin as I can while I continue to hold onto my halberd with my outstretched arm. As I pass through the window and into the cool air of the city, a stray piece of glass grazes my cheek, though not enough to actually cut the skin. I hear the S.W.A.T. team's astonished yells, making me laugh out loud. I continue to laugh in exhilaration when I begin to take full notice of the skyscrapers and buildings that are all around me. Below me, I hear cars zooming by, going to one place or another. Soon the lights and sounds become a slight blur as I start free falling, feeling the cold air whip around me, the stars in the sky the only thing I can see clearly.

I smile, I love how this city never truly sleeps.

I let myself fall a bit longer before I notice a giant gargoyle to my left and immediately move my hand to my belt, grabbing my specially made grappling hook. I throw it up, feeling it connect to the gargoyle's body and tug a bit to make sure that it will hold on securely. My body jerks slightly when I reach the end of my line, making me swing back towards the building at an angle. When I get close enough, I run along the wall of the building before quickly noticing a good looking ledge that I could land on, and it's only a couple of feet below me too. I throw my halberd at the wall right above the ledge with enough force to keep it in place, before unhooking the cord and safely landing on the ledge by making myself roll. I glance up at the fiftieth floor from where I kneeled on the tenth story ledge, and grin widely. Maybe you'll have better luck next time, Chief Jones. And with that, I pull my halberd out of the wall and run off onto another building and towards the alley where I knew France would be waiting with transportation.

Mission Silesia: Complete.

**A couple days later at Headquarters...**

"What! Are you fucking serious?"

I let out an exasperated groan at Romano's language. Don't get me wrong, it's a huge relief to see that Romano is back to his normal self...though he did look rather pale. I've been unable to think of anything else since the mission was completed. But still...

How can someone so cute be so _uncute_?

"Our orders are clear: none of us are to leave the city for at least six months," Prussia states from behind his desk with an annoyed tone before continuing, "They obviously haven't found anything connecting you to Spain, but it already looks suspicious that you were only in the country for a couple of weeks. Imagine if you just got up and left all of a sudden." Romano is standing in front of the desk, his scowl deepening. However, all of us knew that this was the most logical course of action. Surprisingly, Romano just crosses his arms and mutters to himself, otherwise keeping quiet. France is leaning against Prussia's desk next to me, a hand covering his mouth while trying to suppress a snicker.

"Also...since you're still technically part of the team, the awesome me thought it would be a good idea if you were to start training with Spain. Just in case we get another mission while you're here," Prussia mandates, making me immediately straighten my back and perk up. I can't help but smile, that means I get to spend more time with _mi tomate_! I suddenly remember the Benefit and my smile slowly fades away. That's right...I haven't gotten a chance to talk to Romano about that yet. He wasn't able to formally leave the Edelstein household until earlier this morning. Maybe I could ask while we train together.

"WHAT! There's no way in Hell that I'm going to train with that...that _pervert_!" he cries, pointing at me with his index finger in accusation, bringing me out of my current thoughts.

I cock my head to the side and point at myself, more than a bit confused. Me, a 'pervert'?

What did I do to make him think that?

"_Oui_! That is an excellent idea, _La Prusse_!" France agrees, wrapping his arm around my waist tightly, "Maybe _Espagne_ will help him 'loosen up', _non_?"

I hear Prussia cackle as I laugh and nod my head in agreement. From the time that I spent with Romano, he _did _seem like the type of person that took life way too seriously.

For some reason, Romano turns crimson at France's words and he's unable to say anything comprehensible other than a couple choice words in Italian. I know my Italian wasn't great, but I definitely recognized that the words he was using weren't very nice.

"That language is so _not_ cute, _mi tomate_~" I chide playfully, though being somewhat serious. Because _mi dios_...I've never heard anyone swear so much as Romano! Romano snaps his head towards me, and though he's still bright red, he's glaring at me.

"What the fuck did you just call me...?" he asks slowly. I simply beam at him, almost forgetting about his earlier swearing. He's too cute when he blushes, he looks just like a tomato!

"'_Mi tomate_' is your new nickname, of course!~" I answer cheerfully. Romano looks like he's about to say something else but Prussia interrupts him.

"It's settled! Spain, you'll be in charge and help Italy 'loosen up' starting tomorrow morning. The awesome me will let you borrow some ropes and handcuffs later, as well as a flogger if you're interested," Prussia says, sniggering. France bursts out laughing, now using me as a support from laughing so hard. I look at Prussia questioningly, why would I need those to help Romano train? I fail to see how that could help...it's not like I've ever used those things to train before anyway.

"You're all just a bunch of motherfucking perverts!" he screeches. I turn to look back at Romano and ask what he's talking about, but he's already out the door, slamming it shut behind him. I let out another sigh before finding myself smiling. Romano sure was a fascinating guy, but for some reason I couldn't, no...I _didn't_ want to imagine him any other way.

"But in all seriousness, _mon ami_...," France asks all of a sudden, making me turn to face him, "_Do_ you want to borrow the ropes and flogger? I've also got some rose-scented lube if you're interested..." He trails off, grinning at me with that strange glint in his eyes. I raise an eyebrow at him, France can be so weird sometimes. In fact, Prussia and France were both acting rather strange today. What logical reason would I need ropes and a flogger to train Romano? Let alone lube?

"_Eh...gracias_," I answer simply after a short silence, deciding to not even bother trying to understand my partners, "But I think I'm just going to spar with him. He's already shown that he's a pretty capable fighter the first time we fought, so I think I'll just see how he is weapons wise before doing anything else." France's expression rapidly falls and he just stares at me blankly for a second or two before hitting me on the back of the head. Hard.

"What was that for?" I whine, rubbing the back of my head. What did I do?

I hear a huge sigh from Prussia's direction as France continues to hit me, speaking in French a mile a minute. The only words I was able to catch were '_l'amour_' and '_stupide Espagne_'. Seriously, I needed to stop letting my guard down around these two. Despite knowing that, I can't help but laugh and be amused by my partner's actions. Ever since I was stationed with them, they made things so much more interesting. Especially compared to the majority of my previous, and now very dead, partners.

Maybe that's the reason why I haven't truly tried to kill them too.

**Later that night...**

I'm still lying on my bed with my eyes closed, breathing deeply while listening to the loud sounds of the pouring rain, hearing it beat against the roof of my bedroom. Usually the rain forces me to fall asleep, but I was grateful that that wasn't the case tonight. I didn't have it every night, but anything was better than those dreams that I was always unable to wake up from. Well...it was only ever one dream, but still.

"No! Don't!"

I open my eyes at the scream, quickly bolting up in a sitting position. It seemed to have come from the thin wall behind me. It sounded like Romano...

I look at the clock on the side of my bed, noticing that it was three in the morning. I'm wondering whether I should risk checking up on him or not, when I hear him yelling again, agony apparent in his voice.

"Feliciano! Don't do it!"

I don't even have to think twice about it before I go to open my bedroom window, knowing that it was pointless to try the front door. The roof above stopped most of the rain from hitting me as I hoist myself up and carefully climb along the thin ledge and towards his bedroom window, hoping to God that it was unlocked. Thankfully it is, and I carefully push the glass door open before letting myself in. I land on the carpet softly and close the window shut behind me before noticing Romano thrashing around in his bed, getting tangled up in the white sheets. His lower body is still covered though and he's panting heavily, a thin layer of sweat on his olive skin. The sight makes me blush slightly.

He looks so..._beautiful_.

He lets out a soft whimper, making me remember why I was there in the first place. I walk towards the side of the huge bed that he was on, but I don't have time to do anything else before Romano starts screaming something in Italian, tears streaming down his face. My chest tightens, I knew all too well what it was like to not be able to wake up from a nightmare that refused to stop haunting you.

I quickly put both hands on his shoulders and shake him firmly, trying to wake him. That's when I notice how hot his body temperature is. I frown, he did look rather pale earlier today. I put a hand on his forehead to check his temperature, he was really burning up. That would explain the nightmare, but there was nothing I could really do for him besides get him a cold towel and wake him up. I sigh, remembering the first time I met Romano a couple weeks ago. I really didn't want to risk being punched in the stomach again (or anywhere else for that matter) but...

"Wake up, _querido_, it's only a dream," I whisper in his ear, shaking him again with his shoulders but more firmly this time. Suddenly a loud clap of thunder is heard, seeming to slightly shake the room from the force of it. Before I can completely register what's happening, two arms are wrapped tightly around my neck, pulling me down onto the bed. I brace myself on impulse, my hands on either side of his head with my right leg now on the bed. It takes some effort to simply not fall due to his weight pulling me down. His face is in the crook of my neck, his grip surprisingly tight, leaving me with little choice but to stay there.

"Don't go, please don't leave me too..." Romano whimpers, his hold tightening with each word. I sigh, he obviously had no intention of letting go, and was still dreaming about this 'Feliciano'. I grit my teeth and feel like something is boiling up inside me when I remember him calling out that name. The strange sensation takes me by such surprise that I immediately snap out of it, the feeling gone.

What was that?

Another clap of thunder sounds and Romano makes a squeaking noise, his hold tightening to the point of being somewhat painful.

"_Por favore, Spagna._"

It was said so quietly, I wasn't sure if I actually heard it, let alone from Romano. I stay completely still, not sure what to do next. Since becoming a Contractor, I've never had any desire to comfort or help another living creature. That is, until that time when France tried to force his Contract onto him...though I couldn't, and still can't, explain why I did what I did. It was like an instinct, I wasn't given much of a choice. At the time, the idea of me protecting Romano was...disturbing to me. What disturbed me even more though, was that after I realized that I tried to kill Romano, my whole body felt incredibly cold...and I felt this strange and overwhelming need to die. France could somehow tell what I was thinking from my silence and was able to convince me otherwise, saying that my actions were all just due to pent-up sexual frustration and nothing more. As he was asking me something in my native tongue, I began to slowly realize that I didn't _want_ to kill Romano, let alone harm him. A thought that was completely foreign to me. I avoided him for the rest of the week after that, and as a result, felt nothing but a deep emptiness in my chest. France and Prussia tried to get me to go out drinking, something we normally only do when we don't have a mission, but I had absolutely no interest in getting drunk, nor to have sex with random strangers. They eventually gave up and Prussia forced me to give Romano a ride to the bar. When I saw him serenely staring up at the stars...the emptiness in my chest was gone. And at the Benefit when I held him close...I felt a completely different kind of warmth in my chest, one that I could quickly grow addicted to. There was something about the Italian that just got under my skin, and I still can't figure out _why_. I can't help but grimace, just what have you done to me, 'Romano'?

Romano suddenly shivers, making me realize that I hadn't moved or said anything for awhile. Now being fully aware that my body was starting to cramp, I put most of my weight on my right side so that I can roll and lie down comfortably. Romano's body stiffens in response, and I laugh gently, carding my fingers in his soft hair.

"Don't worry, _querido_, I promise that I'm not going anywhere...," I assure him, letting go of his hair before asking, "But I need you to let go, can you do that?" After awhile, his grip loosens and he hesitatingly lets go of me. I then carefully roll my body so that I'm now lying on my side, before wrapping my arms around Romano's waist and pulling him closer to me. He quickly curls up and grabs onto my shirt for dear life, hiding his face in my chest. I knew that his sudden compliance was due to the delusional state from his fever, but like at the Benefit, I felt the same addicting warmth. I didn't want to let go.

He's still burning up and shivering from his fever, so I resume threading my fingers to his hair to try and calm him down. And though I don't know why I start doing it, I begin humming an old Spanish lullaby from my childhood, when I was still a human with a living family.

Romano relaxes after a couple of seconds, his fists slowly loosening around my shirt. Eventually, his breathing also returns back to normal as he finally stops shivering. I stay there, humming quietly and holding him close until the thunderstorm lets up, becoming only a light rain now. A couple of hours pass before the room starts to get a bit brighter from the dawn. I reluctantly detangle myself from Romano, being extra careful not to wake him up. After getting up from the bed, I tuck him in gently and then put hand on his forehead, checking his temperature again. I smile softly, his fever is practically gone now, but it wouldn't hurt if I got him a cold towel. I let my hand linger there, looking at his peaceful expression. He really is beautiful...

Romano decides to turn his body away at that moment, mumbling about something in his sleep. I chuckle silently, leaning over to give him a quick peck on his cheek before looking for the bathroom so that I can grab a hand towel. It wasn't that hard to find, considering his apartment's layout was the mirror image of my own. After I grab the towel, I soak it with ice cold water and then proceed out of the bathroom and towards the bed. I delicately move his body so that he's on his back, in order to place the cold towel on his forehead. When I look down at his sleeping form, I decide that I should probably stay here until he wakes up...just in case his fever goes up again or if he needs anything. I carefully climb in the bed next to him, laying my back against the headboard. While I'm watching him sleep, his calm and even breathing starts to relax me to the point that I start nodding off myself. I'm unable to do much before sleep finally overtakes me.

I don't remember another time, human or Contractor, when I slept so soundly.

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_A/N: Er...yeah...a corny/fluffy end scene...woot? Lol bleh, I'm sorry! *tear*_

_By the way...does anyone wanted me to put the translations up in the author's notes? I tend to have Google translator up whenever I read fanfictions, so I didn't think to do it before, but if people would like me to, then I will. Just let me know :)_

_Something funny I'd like to share with y'all: You know how there's only a thin wall separating their rooms? As Lawn Kat so greatly put it, "You know in college, and you can hear EVERYTHING that happens in your neighbor's room. Yeah, it's that thin!" lolz, I love you~_


	7. Don't Leave Me

_A/N: WARNING! The dream scene may be a bit...intense (though, I guess it depends on who you are), just a heads up._

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**Don't Leave Me**

_I'm running through a dark forest, dodging each tree as sounds of explosions and clashing metal echo all around me. My lungs burn for more air but I ignore it and continue running, the smell of blood and burning flesh prevalent in the air as the battle continues on without me._

_But I could care less, I had to find him._

_Why did he have to run off without me, damnit!_

_I run into an open meadow and take a chance to stop and breathe, frantically looking at the space around me. I zero in on some shouting to my left, from what sounded like a fierce battle going on. Their numbers were going down, but it sounded like there were at least ten left. My heart clenches, what if he **hadn't **caught up with that potato bastard and Japan? He only has three times before he'll be completely defenseless..._

_I bolt over to the area, swiftly pulling out Florence and Rome from their individual holsters. As soon as I clarify that they're not a part of my team, I fire, effortlessly hitting two of the five figures in the head. I don't think twice before I shoot two more as they are turning around towards me, not even bothering to watch them as they fall backwards. I already knew that they were dead._

_I stop moving and am about to fire again at the last, and rather short looking, figure, when I notice that it was only a little girl. My fingers remain motionless on the triggers, she looked like she was no older than ten..._

_However, that's when her eyes start glowing a bright red, taking advantage of my hesitation._

"_Romano-kun!"_

_I'm suddenly forty feet away without my pistols, watching what was about to take place. My heart clenches at the all too familiar scene, because I just **knew** what was going to happen. I see someone that looks like me run towards the girl from behind, but I already knew that it wasn't me...this person had auburn-colored hair, and instead of a stubborn curl that went off to the right side of his head, it was on the left._

"_No! Don't!" I scream, horrified. But Feliciano doesn't look like he's heard me as he continues to run while simultaneously moving his hand towards the child's head. I run towards them as fast as I can, but it feels like the closer I should be to them, the farther away I move._

"_Feliciano! Don't do it!" I try again, praying that he wouldn't do what I knew he would._

_Because the reality of what my _fratellino_ has become was still too hard for me to accept._

_I can do nothing but watch in absolute dread as I see Feliciano's hand tightly clamp on the girl's head from behind, his own eyes now glowing a bright red. The girl's body immediately tenses up, her eyes rolling back so that you could only see the whites of her eyes. She starts violently coughing up blood, and I knew that her lungs and heart were destroyed beyond repair. Her body soon becomes limp, and Feliciano finally lets go of the girl, letting her body unceremoniously fall to the ground._

_I blink and am suddenly back where I was originally standing, Florence and Rome still in my hands and pointing at the place where the child Contractor just stood. But Feliciano now stood over her, his face and body covered in blood._

"_Ve~ what's wrong,_ fratello_?" he asks, looking at me with wide and curious eyes._

_I'm unable to respond to him, let alone move. I feel some bile begin to rise up in my throat, no matter how many times I've watched him do that, it was still just so...__**wrong**__. Someone who was so innocent and naïve as my _fratellino_ shouldn't be doing this kind of thing, especially to a child. Even if she was a Contractor._

_But I also understood that a Contractor was __**far**__ from innocent. Still..._

"_Ve~ what's the matter, _fratello_?" Feliciano asks again, concern now laced in his voice as he's frowning slightly at me. I don't respond, knowing that Feliciano didn't really give a rat's ass about me. Not anymore, anyway..._

_When I don't respond, he starts to slowly walk up to me until his chest touches the barrels of my pistols, with Rome pointing directly over his heart. I'm still unable to move on my own as I let him gently push them to the side before enveloping me in a comforting hug that makes me subconsciously relax._

"_Ve~ you look so sad, _fratello_. Is it because...?" he starts to ask in a sad sounding tone before finishing coldly, "You broke your promise and failed to protect me?"_

_My body immediately tenses back up, and I struggle to get out of his now painfully tight arms with little __success. Suddenly Feliciano is gone and I'm thrust back in the study of the Edelstein penthouse, with __Elizabeta Héderváry standing in front of me, a sad smile on her lips._

"_But it's not just that either, is it?" she asks, starting to walk in a circle around me, "Because deep down, you __**know **__everyone who you've ever trusted will betray you eventually, no matter what you say or do."_

_I don't say anything, unable to breathe properly due to my chest constricting with excruciating pain, getting to the point where I can't stand anymore and am forced to fall onto my knees. My body bends all the way forward and I wrap my arms around myself, trying desperately to make the pain go away._

_Because I __knew that what she was saying __was true._

"_In the end, Feliciano was the only one who has never betrayed you...is that why you can't let him go?" she asks softly, the sounds of her heels stopping in front of me. Even if I was capable of responding, I don't have time to say anything before she roughly grabs my hair, making me look up at her. But it didn't look like her anymore. I stare in horror at the creature's contorted and twisted face, barely resembling who it once was._

"_Why can't you just let him go!" it screams at me in Elizabeta's voice, "What are you so afraid of?"_

_The creature doesn't wait for me to respond as it lifts me up by my hair until I'm partially standing, so that it can instead tightly grab me by my throat with its other hand. Though its hand was extremely cold, my body strangely felt really hot. Its face is right in front of my own, making me flinch from the proximity._

"_Are you afraid that the truth will destroy you?" it screeches at me, "That admitting he's gone will leave you as tortured and broken as when you were betrayed by Antonio?"_

_My eyes widen in confusion, w-what was it talking about?_

_Who was Antonio?_

_The creature seems to know what I'm thinking because it laughs bitterly and tightens its grip around my throat even more before lifting me up in the air. I'm desperately trying to pull it's hand away from my throat, my breathing turning into ragged pants as my body tries to get in as much oxygen as it possibly can._

"_Oh, that's right! I almost forgot! You don't remember him, do you?" it asks in a mocking tone, "You are so much of a coward that you couldn't handle the truth even then!"_

"Di non fare alcun senso! Lasciatemi andare!_" I gasp out, finally finding my voice while continuing to try and get out of its grasp. When I can't loosen its grip, I close my eyes in utter defeat, finally noticing the tears as they stream down my face. For some reason, I knew it was from the creature's earlier comment. Everything seems to fade slightly as I faintly hear someone whispering in my ear, telling me to 'wake up'. The creature seems to notice this because it starts holding onto me even more tightly, refusing to let me go._

"_You can't run away from this, Lovino! I won't let you!" it screams, the sound of it turning into something much more sinister and thunderous._

I wake up at the loud sound of thunder, though I keep my eyes closed tight, not wanting to see that grotesque creature again. I immediately notice something warm, not freezing cold, lightly holding onto my shoulders, and I don't think twice about it before I move to wrap my arms around the person, trying my hardest to keep them in place. My body feels incredibly hot and I'm still not fully aware of what was going on. All I knew was that I didn't want to let go of this person, whoever they were. It all felt so real...and that creature's parting words...

"Don't go, please don't leave me too..." I whimper, while I tighten my grip on them, not wanting to be alone in case that thing came back. My face was in the crook of their neck, the position familiar to me. And their smell...it smelled like a garden after it was just rained on, along with a sort of spicy tint to it. Though I didn't notice the smell the first time around, I immediately knew who the person was now.

_Spagna_.

Another clap of thunder sounds, reminding me of that creature's parting scream and making me squeak, holding onto him as tight as I can.

"_Por favore, Spagna_," I whisper pleadingly, unable to handle the idea of being alone. Spain immediately stiffens at my words, not moving an inch. The more time goes by, the more I grow restless, now starting to wonder if Spain was really going to leave me alone with that _thing_ again. I'm unable to stop a shiver from going through my body at the thought. As soon as I shiver, I feel Spain move his body to the right, no doubt trying to leave me. My heart races and I stiffen, unsure on what I'm going to do now that I have to face that creature by myself. But Spain doesn't leave...he simply laughs softly before gently weaving his fingers through my hair.

"Don't worry, _querido_, I promise that I'm not going anywhere...," he assures me before letting go of my hair, "But I need you to let go, can you do that?"

I hesitate for a bit before finally loosening my grip on him and slowly falling back onto the bed, still unsure if I should trust him to not leave. I wasn't ready to face that thing again. Before I can worry too much about it, he rolls to the left of me and grabs me by the waist, pulling me closer to him. Despite feeling like I was in an oven, I curl myself into his warmth, grabbing his shirt and pulling him as close as I possibly can, just in case he changes his mind. My head is in his chest now, breathing in that wonderful scent. I vaguely wonder if it was natural or some kind of cologne. I start shivering again for some reason, which leads to Spain starting to thread his fingers through my hair again while humming some kind of soothing lullaby. It sounded really familiar...

After some time passes, something in the back of my mind tells me that he really wasn't going anywhere. I can't help but smile a bit as my body starts to relax at that thought, my mind slowly fading to a calm and dreamless sleep.

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_A/N: I know this one is short, but I wanted to show Romano's POV of the end of the last chapter and this felt like a good place to end it. Anyway, the next chapter will be really long (I haven't written it yet, but I can tell you right now that it will be lol) so I hope that makes up for this super short chapter. Oh, and thanks for reading and please review~_

_Translations (according to Google translator):_

_'Di non fare alcun senso! Lasciatemi andare!'- Italian for 'You're not making any sense! Let me go!'_


	8. Monster

_A/N: I'm _**_really_**_ sorry this took _**_so_**_ long to upload (and I'm so sorry to the people who I told I would upload soon...and didn't for about two weeks...yeah...), it started out as my brain being literally fried and I _**_could not_**_ write anymore so I took a small break from it and then other things came up with college and stuff...yeah, and I simply refuse to half-ass my writing lol~ By the way, I'm being horrible, I know, but I've decided to change Spain and Romano's height difference (I kinda just realized that a foot was a bit too much in my opinion), and am going to make Romano only a couple of inches shorter than Spain. I've already done the necessary changes to chapter 3. And speaking of fixing things, I also changed chapter 5 slightly. I forgot to add how when Spain calls Romano, 'Romano', he knew that he wasn't referring to his last name. Anyway! Prepare yourself for massive (and probably illegal) amounts of fluff and thank you for the rather long wait and please review~_

**_edit: So Mila Mai pointed out something to me that I realized could've been very confusing. She (I assume that you're a she, I'm sorry if you're not!) and others thought that the Second War in my story was WW2, which is not the case at all. As a result, I did the necessary changes and changed the name to the Second Contractor War (original, I know!). I'll be reposting this in the next chapter so whoever read this one before the change won't be confused later on. I hope that makes it less confusing~_**

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**Monster**

Sunlight is pouring in from the bedroom window and onto my face, forcing me to wake up. I rub the sleep from my eyes and yawn, I don't remember ever sleeping that well before! I'm stretching out my arms when I feel something give out a small groan and snuggle deeper into me. Looking down, I see the back of Romano's head on my lap, still sound asleep with his arms around my waist. I smile and lightly ruffle his hair, he's so cute! As I'm ruffling his hair, my fingers brush against the odd curl on his head and Romano gasps what sounds like a low 'chigi' noise, making me pause my movements. What was that?

Curious, I gently grab the curl and tug. Romano gasps a bit louder this time, tightening his grip on my waist.

Hm...I wonder...

I try sliding my thumb and forefinger along the curl, going from base to tip and Romano moans loudly, his breathing turning to heavy pants now.

"Ngh..._Spagna...,_" he whimpers softly, the name making me halt my movements again. I can't help but smile, how adorable! _ Mi tomate_ is dreaming about me!~ I wonder what he's dreaming about...

I shift my body a bit so that I can get a better look at his face, noticing that it was extremely flushed. Frowning, I move my hand to his forehead in order to check his temperature. He was pretty warm...his fever must've went back up, I should get him another cold towel. Looking at the alarm clock on his bed stand, I notice that it's already one in the afternoon. Well, might as well get up for the day...I should make him some breakfast while I'm at it, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. I gently move Romano's arms before sliding out from underneath him, replacing where I was with one of the many pillows on the bed, making sure not to wake him up. Romano immediately latches onto the pillow tightly, still breathing a bit more heavily while mumbling something in his sleep. I try to stifle a laugh, he's just too cute! After finding the discarded towel from last night and drenching it with cold water, I go back out to the bedroom and move Romano so that I can put it back on his forehead. When I'm done, I leave the room and quietly close the door behind me before heading out to the kitchen to see if there was anything that I could make for breakfast.

The first thing I notice when I enter the kitchen is an espresso machine. Well, Romano is from Italy...if I remember correctly, that would mean that he probably doesn't have much for breakfast except for that, but it wouldn't hurt to make him something to eat just in case. I open up some cabinets and look around, noticing that he had every kind of appliance I could think of, as well as a fully stocked refrigerator and pantry. For some reason, I have the strange urge to make _cornetti_, so after I recall on how to start up the espresso machine, I start getting all the necessary tools and ingredients, as well as some chocolate for the filling, while I wait for the machine to heat up. After I get them in the oven to bake and I clean up the kitchen, I decide that I want to heat up some chocolate to put on top of them.

Unfortunately, while I'm heating up the chocolate in the pan, I accidentally trip on some stray flour that was on the floor and though I was able to catch the pot, its contents still spills all over the front of my shirt. I quickly set the pot back down and go over to the sink so that I can clean off the chocolate before it hardens, but when I turn the faucet on I'm sprayed with a bunch of water from the sink's nozzle. I turned it off as quickly as I could, but the damage was already done: the front of my shirt is soaked and water is now dripping from my hair. I groan loudly and move to take my shirt off so that I can toss it in the sink and deal with it later. My shirt is already hanging off my arms and I'm about to throw it in the sink, when I see Romano in the corner of my eye, walking out of his bedroom with his bedsheets, completely dressed and showered. I face him fully and smile widely at his cute and embarrassed looking expression.

"_¡__Buenos días, querido!_" I say cheerfully, catching his attention. As soon as I start talking, Romano glares in my direction, about to say something before suddenly stopping. His eyes widen and his face rapidly turns into a bright crimson color as his eyes slowly trail up and down my body. I immediately throw my shirt into the sink so that I can walk up to him and place a hand to his forehead. His fever seems to have come back, but he looked fine just a moment ago...

"Maybe you should lie down, _querido_..." I mutter softly before giving him a small smile and removing my hand, "But don't worry, I'll be sure to take care good care of you, okay?" For some reason Romano's face gets even redder at my promise and he just gapes at me for a bit before quickly shaking his head.

"I d-don't understand...w-what are you still d-doing here, _b-bastardo_?" he stutters, ignoring what I asked. I pout a bit, he should really be resting! His face is still a bright red and he turned his head to the side, refusing to look at me. I can't help but smile at that, well that just won't do, now will it? I take my hand and delicately cup his cheek so that I can make him face me, but he still won't look me in the eyes.

"You should really look someone in the eyes when you talk to them, _querido_," I murmur, making Romano's eyes snap towards mine. I grin widely, much better!

"Y-you didn't answer my question, tomato _bastardo_," he grumbles, leaning into my hand slightly before his eyes widen and he smacks my hand away, "And stop treating me like I'm a fragile girl, damnit! I'm fine!"

My smile falls and I simply stare at him, he couldn't really believe that, right? He had such a terrible fever this morning that he was delusional, and his face is still pretty red...

"It's not a big deal, I only get sick for a day or two!" he exclaims, I raise an eyebrow at that, how does _that_ work? "S-stop looking at me like that, damnit! It's creeping me the fuck out!"

I let it go and obey when I hear the timer beep, signaling that the _cornetti_ are finally done. I grab an oven mitt and pull them out, smiling when I see that they actually came out pretty well. I couldn't remember the last time that I made them, so I wasn't sure how they would turn out!~

"You made me _cornetti_...?" he asks softly from behind me, I don't turn around while I set the tray on the stovetop to cool.

"_Sí_," I respond, grabbing a plate to put them on, "I hope you don't mind that there's chocolate in them."

"No...I use to eat them all the time when I was a kid," he whispers it so quietly that I almost don't hear him. I let out a chuckle at the thought, Romano must've been such an adorable kid!~

_Stupid jerk, I'm not trying to be cute!_

I groan as the child's voice makes the room slightly spin around me, and I have to grab onto the kitchen counter in order to keep myself balanced. That voice...

It was the same as the one from my nightmare.

"H-hey, are you okay?" Romano asks, suddenly right next to me, eyebrows furrowed.

"Of course, I'm fine, _querido_," I lie, forcing myself to smile and laugh, though it sounded a bit strained, even to me. I really didn't want to think about the nightmare _now_, of all times. Romano seems to know that I'm lying because he immediately scowls at me.

"Fine, my ass! Sit the fuck down before you faint and break something," he orders, motioning to the couch in the living room with his head.

"But _you're_ the one that's sick! You should be the one resting, not me!" I whine, not wanting to move.

"I already told you that I'm fine, damnit!" he snaps, "So get your fucking ass to the couch, _now_. I'll make the espresso, myself. You'd probably mess it up anyway..."

I let out a loud sigh, knowing that arguing with him would go nowhere. But I just wanted to help _mi tomate_...

Noticing the bed sheets in his arms, an idea pops into my head. He must've been on his way to wash them due to his fever, he was sweating quite a bit last night.

"Fine...but at least let me wash the sheets for you," I try, reaching out to grab them from him. Romano quickly pulls the sheets away from my grasp and blushes.

Wow...I've never seen his face _that_ red before...he _really_ looks like a tomato now!

"J-just sit the fuck down, d-damnit!" he squeaks, refusing to look at me once again, "I-I've got it, alright!" Before I can say or do anything, he immediately passes me and throws it in the cupboard underneath the sink. I raise an eyebrow at him, that's not washing it...

"I'll deal with it later!" he barks, noticing my expression, "Now go and sit the fuck down!"

I raise my hands up in defeat, starting to walk over to the couch before his voice stops me in my tracks.

"And put a fucking shirt on, you damn pervert!"

I turn to look back at him, now very confused. Why does he keep calling me a pervert?

However, Romano's back was facing me, so instead of asking him, I decide to just stand there and watch him while he prepares his espresso. Well, he did seem a lot better...he was back to being himself, evident from all the swearing and such. But I still didn't think it was a good idea to start training right away, just in case. I pout, I was hoping that I could get to know Romano more and I still needed to ask about the Benefit...though, I guess there wouldn't be a lot of down time to ask if we were busy sparring anyway. There has to be something we could do...

An idea pops into my mind, making me grin widely. Perfect!

"Oi, _querido_," I say, catching Romano's attention and making him turn around.

"Why the fuck aren't you sitting down, _bastardo_?" he asks, scowl still in place, "And I thought I told you to put on a shirt, damnit!" My grin doesn't fall from my face and my body won't stop fidgeting in anticipation, it was such a good idea!

"What...?" he asks tersely, his face twitching slightly. I couldn't keep it in any longer.

"We should go to the aquarium today!~" I exclaim, throwing my arms in the air. Romano just stares at me blankly for a moment.

"There is no fucking way in Hell that I'm going to an aquarium. I'm not five, stupid _bastardo_," he states simply and I pout before slowly smirking, remembering what Prussia said the day before.

"Fine...Boss _orders_ you to come with me to the aquarium," I say, not liking that I had to use _that_ against him but knowing that it would be totally worth it. Romano raises a disbelieving eyebrow at me.

"Wha-?"

"Prussia said I was in charge, remember? That makes me the 'Boss'," I interrupt, while reminding him of Prussia's orders. I wait, gauging his reaction. Romano continues to stare at me blankly while his face twitches now and then, but other than that, he doesn't say anything.

That has to be a good thing, right...?

**Later...**

"I can't believe we're in a fucking aquarium."

I don't bother to turn around to face him as I continue to impatiently tug on Romano's arm towards the turtle exhibit.

"But Angelo, this is so much fun!~" I say, being sure to use his fake civilian name. Now that I think about it, I wish I knew what it really was...

"Do you seriously consider going to an aquarium as 'fun', Babieca?" he retorts. I tighten my grip on him a bit and can't help but frown when he calls me that. How strange...I _really_ don't like him calling me that. That's never happened to me before...

"Okay, you can stop dragging me around like some fucking kid!" Romano says, snapping me out of my thoughts by trying to yank his arm out of my hold. I turn my head around and flash him a smile while tightening my hold on him, though making sure that I wasn't hurting him.

"But I wanna see the turtles!~" I sing, continuing to smile at him. Romano turns bright red and looks like he's about to say something when I notice the said tank, making me gasp and immediately let go of him so that I can run on over to it. I put both hands on the glass and intently watch them as they swim around. Behind me, I hear Romano's footsteps finally catch up with me.

"Geez, wait up will you! _Cazzo_, you have the attention span of a fucking brat..."

I turn around at Romano and grin widely,

"But the turtles are so cool!~"

Romano suddenly gets a bit pale (huh, I didn't know he was capable of even doing that!) and he's shaking a bit while pointing a finger at me.

"What the hell is going on with you!" he exclaims, getting even more pale. I cock my head to the side in confusion. What's he talking about?

"The fucking turtles! Y-you're like some kind of fucking _magnet_ you tomato _bastardo_!" he yells, taking note of my confused expression. I blink rapidly before turning back towards the tank and noticing that all the turtles were indeed gathered where I was from behind the glass. I laugh at loud, that is so cool!

"I guess even the turtles can't help but adore me!~" I exclaim, moving left and right to see if they'd follow me. When they do I laugh even louder, that is just too cool! 'Awesome' as Prussia would put it! I wonder what would happen if I was in the tank with them...I grin at the thought, well, there's only one way to find out!~ Before I can figure out how I can sneak into the tank without getting caught, Romano grabs my hand and forcibly moves us away to a different exhibit.

"Eh! W-what're you doing? I'm not done!" I whine, trying to get out of his grip, albeit half-heartedly, my chest experiencing that strange warmth that only seems to happen whenever I'm touching Romano. I should probably ask someone about that...maybe France would know what's wrong with me?

"We're going to a different exhibit and that's that, you stupid _bastardo_," Romano grumbles resolutely, continuing to pull me away from the exhibit. I look back at the turtles and wave good-bye to them, oh well! I'll just have to sneak in another time it seems~

Romano keeps dragging me by my hand when we enter the practically empty shark exhibit. I look around the room, still unable to believe how there aren't that many people in such an amazing place. Then again...it is around mid-afternoon on a weekday, so most people are probably either working or going to school.

We finally stop moving when we're deep enough in the exhibit, the action making me look over to Romano. Despite us not moving anymore, his hand is still wrapped around my own. I stare at our hands with fascination, the sight giving me a foreign fluttering sensation in the pit of my stomach. How can something so simple do that?

Suddenly Romano snatches his hand away from mine, the sensations in my chest immediately going away. I look up at his face and despite the dim lighting, I can see that it was bright red as he was stuttering something, looking at anything but me. I chuckle while I flex my hand a bit, for some reason it feeling odd without the pressure. He's so cute when he blushes, he looks just like a tomato!~

Speaking of tomatoes...he hasn't eaten anything except the _cornetti _that I made this morning, and I still have yet to find the proper time to ask him about the Benefit. I know that there was much I didn't know about Romano, but he was pretty defensive and would probably punch me if I bombarded him with a bunch of questions all at once. So I'd have to sneak it in the conversation somehow. Maybe I could try while we were here, there was no one around and there was a bench that was pretty secluded. But first...

"Are you hungry, _querido_?" I ask, walking over to one of the benches while I pull off my backpack. As I sit down, I notice that Romano is in the same place as before, a strange look on his face. I smile and pat the seat next to me, beckoning him to sit down with me. After awhile, Romano sighs loudly and grumbles something before finally coming over plopping down on the seat besides me.

"It better not taste like shit, tomato _bastardo_," he says, looking at my backpack with a look of curiosity on his face. I shake my head vehemently and rummage through my bag,

"Nope! In fact, it's the best thing ever!~"

Romano turns to give me a skeptical look,

"And that is...?"

I grab the container and pull it out, revealing the tomatoes through the clear plastic. Opening the container, I politely offer him one first, a huge smile on my face. Romano blankly looks at the container, and then at me, and then back at the container. I wait patiently, though I couldn't help but wonder what the problem was. The tomatoes are fresh, I always make sure of that.

"You can't be serious..._tomatoes_? Really? I thought you only ate them raw because it was part of your Contract!" he says, giving the container a somewhat disgusted look. I gape a bit, sure I was use to France's weird attitude towards the wonderful fruit, but I didn't expect Romano to be the same!

"You're from Italy, _¿__sí? _Aren't tomatoes a staple food there?" I ask, still taken back from his reaction. I was so certain that he would like them...

"Well, yeah, but I've never eaten them raw, _idiota_! That's just weird!" he exclaims, crossing his arms and slumping back against the wall. I remain quiet for a bit, thinking that over in my head. If he has never had them raw then how does he know if he doesn't like them? My smile comes back full force as I carefully take a tomato and present it to him.

"Just try it," I state simply. He looks like he's about to decline in so many words before I hastily interrupt him, "Just one bite. If you don't like it, we'll immediately leave the aquarium. Deal?"

Romano seems to contemplate this for a moment, staring at the fruit with a thoughtful look.

"Fine...but on top of that, if I don't like it, you aren't allowed to call me 'mi tomate' anymore, got it?" he declares, looking up at me again. I pout, that's not fair at all! He's too cute! How am I going to _not_ be able to call him that? His expression doesn't change and after awhile, I sigh loudly in defeat before nodding my head in agreement.

Romano smirks triumphantly and grabs a tomato from my hand, taking a huge bite from it. I grab one myself and start eating it, watching his reaction intently. He stops chewing almost immediately, a look of pure shock on his face before he starts to chew more slowly. His face looks conflicting for a few moments, staring at the tomato in his hand. Suddenly, he groans and swallows, throwing me a half-hearted glare. I cock my head to the side, not sure what to make of his reaction.

"I can't believe this...stupid tomato _bastardo_," he mumbles, taking another big bite of the fruit while averting his eyes from me. While he continues to eat it, it all clicks in my head and I let out a small laugh, about to go back to my own tomato. I stop abruptly when I see some tomato juice starting to drip down his chin, following it with my eyes and unable to look away. My tomato completely forgotten, I gently grab his chin with my other hand in order to keep it in place as I lean forward. For some reason I had this overwhelming desire to lick it off.

Romano becomes completely still, unable to properly see me as his face rapidly turns crimson.

"W-what are y-you doing, _bastardo_?" he stutters, though he doesn't move a muscle.

"Ah, well, you see...you have some stray tomato juice," I start to say, continuing to move closer to his chin, "Right...here..."

Romano doesn't do anything as I slowly swipe my tongue along his chin, tasting the fruit along with something unknown that was completely..._intoxicating_. While I'm trying to figure out what it could possibly be, his body shivers, making me stop what I was doing in order to lean back. I gently turn his face so that I can get a better look at him, taking in his expression. His face was still bright red, though instead of the usual scowl, his face is relaxed and his eyes were half-lidded; his mouth partially opened as he's breathing rapidly. I can't help but think how truly beautiful he looks when he doesn't have that scowl on his face. Then again, he looks beautiful even _with_ a scowl...

I let the thought trail off as my eyes wander down to his lips, now wondering if they would taste as good as his skin.

"_Spagna_...?" he whispers nervously, the name barely registering to me, my mind only focusing on one thing. I slowly lean back in, this time towards those soft looking lips. His lips are so close to mine, I can practically _taste_ his warm breathe...

And then something roughly tugs on my jacket from the side, snapping me out of my daze. Romano's face immediately turns to one of embarrassment and he pushes me back a bit before looking somewhere behind me, now with a look I would've taken as fear on his face if I didn't already know that he was a Contractor. My lips purse at the interruption, not liking it at all. I whip around, seriously considering to eliminate the human who _dared_ interrupt me. Instead of seeing a grown human, like I originally imagined, I only see a small boy, his other arm covering his eyes. I feel the familiar pang of pain in my chest, the same kind that I always get whenever I'm around a child, and I immediately soften my expression and let go of Romano's face so that I can turn and fully face the small boy, who was obviously crying.

"What's the matter, _chico_?" I ask, trying to make my voice sound gentle as to not scare him. It seems to work because the boy looks up from his arm, now using it to wipe his runny nose with it.

"I-I-I c-can't find M-miss Taylor," he whimpers, clutching on my jacket even tighter. I nod my head, now understanding the situation a bit more. 'Miss Taylor' must be a teacher, or something along those lines. He probably came here on a school field trip and got separated. I'm about to ask him where he last saw her when a shrill voice interrupts me.

"Jeremy! There you are! Thank _God_!"

I turn towards the voice and see a young woman run over to us, a look of pure relief on her face. The boy lets go of me and runs over to her, crying loudly about how scared he was. She looks over at me and I wave at her politely and force myself to smile widely at her, keeping up my appearance as 'Babieca Ortega'. For some reason, her face turns a light pink as she carefully looks me over before giving a small smirk. She quickly walks over to us, holding onto the boy's hand.

"Thank you_ so_ much for finding Jeremy," she says, offering me her hand, "Mister...?" I set down my tomato so that I can stand up and take her offered hand.

"Ortega, but you can just call me Babieca," I answer, making myself sound happy. Her hand slightly tightens around mine.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Babieca...you can call me Bella," she purrs, a strange glint in her eyes. Hey, would you look at that? It looks _exactly_ like the one France gives me!~

"Don't you have a job to do or something?" Romano snaps, suddenly standing up next to me. I turn to face him, his scowl back in place as he glares at the woman. I let out an exasperated sigh, didn't anyone properly teach Romano manners when he was a kid? _Mi dios..._

"And you are...?" she asks, something in her voice making me turn to face her again. I frown when I see her expression, not liking the way she was looking at Romano...no, I didn't like it _at all_. I forcibly let go of her hand, her gaze immediately turning to mine, confusion evident on her face. Turning around, I quickly pack up our stuff and put the backpack on before facing the human again, now having a desire to be in a completely different part of the exhibit, preferably one that she wasn't in. I'm sure there were other places we could sit that were secluded. I wrap an arm around Romano's shoulder, making myself smile at her, though it was now extremely hard for me to accomplish.

"He's right, you should probably get back to work. Besides, we were actually just about to leave," I reply, my voice somewhat terse as I continued to make myself smile at her. I didn't wait for her to respond as I led Romano out of the exhibit and out of her sight, going straight towards a different entrance. If I remember correctly, there should be another one around the corner. While we're walking, Romano finally breaks the silence.

"What the fuck was all that?" he asks, though his voice didn't hold the usual venom in it. I don't answer until we enter a different part of the exhibit, walking over to another bench that was even more secluded than the first one. It even had a clear view of the entrances, perfect!

"What was what, _querido_?" I ask finally, letting go of his shoulder and taking off my bag so that I can comfortably sit down on the bench, leaning back against the wall as I wait for him to sit down next to me. Romano just stands in front of me and I look up at him questioningly to see him standing there with his arms crossed. I raise an eyebrow, I assumed that Romano didn't want to be around that annoying human either.

"Well, first of all, I seriously thought that you were going to torch the kid. But as soon as you saw who it was, you didn't...you were even _nice_ to him. _Why?_ I mean, you had no problem at the Benefit; and there were thirty casualties, for fuck's sake!" Huh...so _that's_ how many humans I eliminated, I honestly thought the number was higher, "And only two of them lived, and that's _only _because I interrupted you. Second, that bitch was obviously all over you and looked like she was going to jump you any second, kid present or not, and you seemed to be completely fine with it before suddenly turning all..._dark_. N-not that I care who you fuck or anything!"

Romano stops talking after that, his face turning bright red after his last declaration. I blink rapidly at the sudden rant, surprised at where the conversation had turned. At least he made it a lot easier to talk about the Benefit by bringing it up; it's a good thing that we were now in a more secluded place. Deciding that it was only fair to answer him before asking my own questions, I let most of his words sink in, focusing on the statement about the woman. I frown when I realize what he was saying.

"In terms of the human woman, I don't know what you're talking about...she just looked grateful and relieved to see the child safe, that's all," I reply honestly. Romano snorts and rolls his eyes, an annoyed look on his face.

"And the brat?" he asks. When he reminds me of the idea of me hurting the child again, I'm unable to stop myself from seeing the images I really _didn't _want to see. I'm not in the aquarium anymore as I see s huge fire engulfing an entire room, and almost everything it it, with a small and badly burnt figure in the center of it. I hear the pained screams of the child, who's face I still couldn't see, but who's voice haunted me in my nightmare, always asking me the same thing. Even now, I could hear his words so clearly:

_Why, Antonio? Why did you hurt me? You promised that you weren't like them! You lied to me!_

My stomach suddenly feels sick and the world starts to get a bit dizzy, as I lean forward and look down towards the ground, noticing how it seemed to be getting closer to me.

"H-hey! What's wrong with you, _bastardo_!" Romano exclaims, catching me by the shoulders. I let my head limply fall onto his stomach as I try my hardest to push the voice into the very back of my mind. Wanting to move on to a different topic but unable to bring myself to lie to him, I answer him with a loud enough voice so that he can hear, not wanting to repeat myself and think more about it.

"It's because children shouldn't have to know such terror and pain," I say truthfully, ignoring his last statement and answering his original question. I feel Romano's body stiffen in response and I hold in a breathe, wondering for a second if he was going to push me for an explanation. I _really_ didn't want to think about it anymore than I had to.

"That's very unlike a Contractor," he simply states after a short while. I let out a relieved sigh, very grateful that Romano didn't ask for me to go into it.

"As was sparing England," I counter, taking my chance to turn the conversation towards the Benefit. I move my body back so that I can get a better look at him. Instead of seeing a scowl like I originally anticipated, Romano stares at me almost thoughtfully before letting out a small sigh.

"So that's why we're here...we still have some unfinished business to discuss...don't we?" he asks, already figuring out my intentions before giving me one of his signature scowls, "And you decided to talk to me about it in a motherfucking aquarium of all places? Are you fucking serious?"

Chuckling a bit to myself, I lean back against the wall, not bothering to answer his question. I still thought it was a great idea!

Apparently Romano didn't expect me to answer because he just lets out a low snort and sits down next to me.

"Okay...if I remember correctly, you wanted to know what my powers were, right?" he asks, looking straight ahead at something on the far side of the room. I nod my head,

"_Sí_." He sighs again before turning to face me.

"By the way, I expect you to also answer a question of mine, you damn _bastardo_," he states calmly, staring at me as he waited for a reply.

"I will," I promise, wanting him to continue. Romano turns to look back ahead of him, silent for a short moment before finally answering.

"It's hard for me to explain...the only way I can describe it that makes sense, is that if I'm able to touch someone with my palm, I'm able to 'hack' them." I raise an eyebrow at that, not quite understanding what he was saying.

"'Hack' them?" I ask, wanting him to elaborate more on it.

"Yeah...," he says, "I don't know how exactly, I'm just able to send a kind of...'spark' from my body and make it 'travel' through them to wherever I want it to go. Depending on where I send it, it does certain things." It gets silent for a bit as I begin to fully comprehend what he's telling me.

"So...by simply touching someone you have absolute control over their body?" I ask, making sure I got it right. I see Romano visibly gulp, an uncomfortable look crossing his features.

"In theory," he replies simply.

"In theory?" I ask patiently, urging him to go at his own pace. He sighs and looks back over to me, his honey eyes having a dull look to them. I can't help but frown, wishing his eyes would return to how they were: so full of energy and life. That's when I realize that that's what I've become so accustomed to, those dull looking eyes just didn't suit him.

"Well...it takes..._practice_, to figure out how to do what. It only takes one time to get it right for me to be able to do it from then on out, but if I don't know how to already do something, and take one wrong turn without it being my original intention...," Romano trails off, his eyes looking slightly glazed over. I'm about to ask him if he's alright when he suddenly snaps out of it, shaking his head.

"And that's my power," he finishes, starting to now fiddle with the end of his jacket's sleeve. It's quiet for a moment before another question comes to mind.

"So...what _can_ you do exactly?" I ask, curious.

"You've probably already figured out that I can erase memories and heal people...or maybe you haven't," he adds, snorting suddenly, the action making me smile widely, now there's the Romano I've come to know, "But I can also make people recall lost memories, as well as 'see' them for myself if I wanted to. I guess you _could_ consider making a mistake as one...as it tends to destroy the function of their heart and lungs. Other than that, I can't do anything else, nor do I find the need to." My smile falls slightly when I finally ask the question that's been really bugging me since the Benefit.

"Can you also bring the dead back to life?" I whisper. Romano gives me a confused look and is quiet for a brief moment before slowly shaking his head in response,

"No...at least, not in the way that you're probably thinking of. Technically, yes, I could. But after around two minutes or so, there's simply no point...lets just leave it at that."

I nod my head and turn to look at the tank on the opposite wall, absentmindedly watching the sharks swim around each other. Well, it all makes sense now. He must've revived me because he needed a distraction for the Edelstein household, it was the logical thing to do; he _is_ a Contractor after all.

So why do I feel this deep ache in my chest?

I sigh and roughly move a hand through my hair, I should really talk to France about that sometime soon...my body has been acting so strange lately.

"My turn," Romano says suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. However, I continue to stare at the sharks, waiting for him to ask me his question.

"How the fuck did you know about me being in the Second Contractor War, let alone my codename?" he asks. I can't help but laugh a bit, I was expecting a much more interesting question.

"Prussia told France and me," I answer simply before turning to give him a small smile, "He figured we should be somewhat informed about who we were working with. Though surprisingly, there wasn't anything else on file about you. Probably because you've never formally worked with the Union before..."

Romano goes quiet at that, so I let my mind wander back to last night, suddenly remembering something interesting. I immediately voice my question as I think it, wanting to learn more about Romano and keep the conversation going.

"So who's 'Feliciano'?" I ask, turning to watch his face for his reaction. As soon as the name leaves my lips, Romano becomes stiff and stares back at me with unfocused eyes. I frown, wondering what was wrong. Romano gulps loudly, but doesn't say anything, his eyes holding a familiar look that I knew all to well...

Maybe it's because it reminded me of a similar look I had before becoming a Contractor and loosing all human emotions.

But that can't be right...because Contractors aren't capable of having emotions. Yet, now that I think about it, some of Romano's actions seem to be driven by something other than logic. Like the fact that he didn't eliminate England when he had the chance, despite it being the easier and most logical choice. I wonder...could Romano be a walking contradiction, a defected Contractor of sorts? Or is there something important that I'm missing? I smirk to myself, why does it feel like whenever I have some of my questions answered, ten more pop up in its place?

You truly are an enigma, 'Romano'...but that just makes you _so_ much more intriguing.

As I continue to stare at Romano's unchanging expression, I finally deduce that he isn't going to answer me. Feeling that foreign urge to comfort him again, I decide to share something personal about myself, a peace offering of sorts to try to get him to open up more to me. It was something that other than myself, I have only willingly shared to with France.

"I lost my entire family nine years ago," I say, noticing how Romano's eyes seem to refocus when I speak again. He hesitates for a minute or so, before a look of determination crosses his face.

"What happened?" he asks finally. I chuckle darkly, now extremely curious as to how Romano would react when I tell him.

"I killed them," I state nonchalantly, watching Romano's face start to turn to one of pure horror before I continue, "Before I became a Contractor, I was a Moratorium."

Romano's immediately knits his eyebrows together at my admission, his expression turning to one of confusion.

"'Moratorium'...that name sounds really familiar...," he begins, before I see his eyes widen in realization and he stares at me, "But that's impossible...you should be dead right now!" I shrug my shoulders, not at all surprised at his reaction.

"It's rare, but it _is_ possible to become a Contractor-," I start before Romano interrupts me.

"Yeah, but it's what, a five percent chance, if that?" he scoffs, giving me a hard look. I'm about to say something else but he cuts me off again, "I mean, there's a reason they tend to die off, isn't it? They aren't capable of controlling their Contractor powers, hell, they don't even know what's going on most of the time until they eventually burn...out..." he trails off at the end, his eyes seem to soften now as he looks at me, a look similar to that of sorrow on his face. For some reason, I can't handle that look: it's too much for me. It gives me this sinking feeling in my stomach and I have to look away.

"Did it hurt when...?" he asks quietly, before trailing off again. I wasn't sure what he was asking exactly. I assumed it was the obvious one: did it hurt when you turned into a Contractor? Yet, the question that kept repeating itself in my head was: did it hurt when you realized that you slaughtered your entire family because you were too weak to control yourself?

I grimace, vaguely wondering where that second thought came from before quickly giving up and going with the more logical one.

"Like nothing you could ever imagine," I reply, letting the statement just hang there without any further explanation. There was no point, no way to describe to another what it felt like towards the end of my transformation. I've heard that for the humans who do turn into Contractors, when they finally 'awaken', it's a completely pain-free process; almost like waking up from a dream where nothing makes sense, to it all suddenly becoming clear. At least, that's how France described his own transformation to me. When I met Prussia, who was still a Contractor at that point, and asked about his, he described it in a similar way (though in his own, and very different, words).

That wasn't at all the case for me.

I still had all my overwhelming human emotions during the final stage of being a Moratorium, and was fully aware of what I had done to _mi familia_. It all started in my native country of Spain, when I was eighteen years-old. That's when I had started to black out. Only for a couple of minutes at first, but then more and more, until I couldn't remember hours at a time. The longest period of time being this strangely huge gap during my last month as a Moratorium, only remembering a small portion towards the end of it. I realize now that whenever I would be conscious again, there would always be some kind of fire. They too, were small at first, before getting larger and more destructive as the year went on. _Mis padres_, specifically my father, were worried sick about me, but had no idea what to do. Contractors had only started appearing a year previously, so not much was known about them at the time. Not that it mattered, because _mis padres_ were still part of the general public, and had never been informed of what a Moratorium was, let alone a Contractor. So my father moved us and my three brothers and baby sister from the city of Barcelona, to a tomato plantation in the country, deciding that it was probably safer to keep me away from other people. They loved me too much, and assumed that the once small fires would be the worse of it, denying it when they only got worse, believing that they could handle it. They didn't want to admit that I was better off dead, that I was a monster. They remained in a constant state of denial, choosing to believe that I would be able to control it with time.

They were absolute fools.

Because of their delusional human emotions, they were the first to go, my very first victims. I remember...how _suffocating_ it felt, waking up and hearing their agonized screams, realizing what I had done. I remember how much I _hated _them for trusting me, for dragging _mis hermanos y hermanita_ along with them. How I felt that _I_ should've been the one to die, not them. I remember _hating_ how I had completely trusted them when they told me that it would all be fine, that there was nothing to worry about because I wouldn't ever harm them.

But most of all, I hated _myself_ for losing control.

Then the pain came...burning, twisting pain that racked my entire body. It got to the point where I couldn't think about anything else other than that pain, only being able to see a bright white light. It felt like something was mercilessly clawing at my insides while breaking my bones and peeling the flesh right off me. But I had gladly accepted the pain, begging God to give me more of it before I died, as atonement for what I had done. However, God refused to answer my prayers.

After what felt like a long eternity, the pain slowly dissipated and I finally opened my eyes, finding myself in a sterile hospital room. I remember feeling so...cold, uncaring even, when I woke up, immediately remembering what I had done to _mi familia_. But it didn't faze me one bit anymore, it was like reading a history book: they were only a fact now; their memory like a distant and unrelated event in relation to me. When I looked around the room, the first thing I saw was a blond haired boy that looked around the same age as me, with curious blue eyes, standing at the foot of my bed with an older man in a suit. That was the first time I met France, and the day that I was stripped of my old name and given the codename 'Spain', along with being enrolled into the recently established Dawn's Union.

"Hey, _idiota_! Listen to me when I'm fucking talking to you, damnit!"

Romano's voice suddenly cuts through my mind, pulling me back to reality. Well...that extremely hard slap to the back of my head probably helped too.

"Owwww! That's so _not _cute!~" I whine, rubbing the back of my head with both hands. Looking at him with what I'm guessing to be a rather pained look on my face. I could even feel my eyes water slightly, that really hurt! Why did he do that?

As soon as I look at Romano and give him my full attention, I notice his face softening slightly before he scowls and looks away, his face turning a bright red. He's mumbling something but I can't hear him.

"What was that, _mi tomate_?~" I ask playfully, instantly forgetting about the pain. He's so cute!~

"I _said_, are you okay? You spaced out for awhile, no matter what I said. I-it was kinda freaky..." he says nervously before adding hastily, "Not that I care!" I chuckle at his last statement, it seems that I learned a lot more about Romano today than I ever hoped to. Though, I know that there was still much more to him than met the eye. I've never met someone so..._enthralling_ as Romano.

"I'm fine," I answer honestly before stretching out my body, now fully being aware of how it had started to cramp from being immobile for so long. I guess I _had_ been thinking and reminiscing a lot lately. I haven't thought about _mi familia _in years, how strange!~

"I think that's enough for one day...how about I take you to dinner and drop you back home, does that sound good?" I ask when I look at my watch and noticing the time before smiling widely at him, "We'll be starting training first thing tomorrow!~"

Romano gives me an odd look before letting out a frustrated sigh and standing up.

"Fine, be that way, but I refuse to eat anything that isn't _authentic_ Italian food...and you're going to pay since you made me come here, stupid _bastardo_," he says, already walking without me and heading towards the exit. I quickly grab my bag and catch up with the Italian before laughing and hugging him from behind, making him frantically sputter something incomprehensible. I wonder if it's possible to die from cuteness overload. I tighten my hug and giggle at the thought, I don't think I would mind that at all!~

* * *

_A/N: Phew! I think that's my longest chapter yet (and a long A/N, sorry!), and all through Spain's POV too! So difficult at times lol. Hope this kinda makes up for the month-long wait...? haha..._

_Ok...first off, I think I should explain that in relation to the _Darker Than Black_ universe, the definition of Moratoriums in my story is mostly made up by me. In the anime, they don't die, they usually turn into Dolls. But since there is so much going on, and there are things that still need explaining (and I think introducing Dolls now would just get too confusing at this point in the story), I changed it so that they most likely die instead. But the part of them not being able to control their powers and slipping into random hypnotic states when they use them is from the anime. Them going through extreme pain towards their death or transformation to a Contractor isn't, that part was also added by me._

_I also want to explain the whole weird tomato scene at the aquarium. So, I was watching Top Chef on the Food Network and during a commercial, they mentioned this random fact on how when the Italians were first introduced to tomatoes, it took 200 years for them to actually use them as a food because they were terrified that they were poisonous or something lol. I don't know about y'all, but I found that absolutely hilarious and immediately thought of Hetalia! So that's why I have that small reference in my chapter, I couldn't resist!~_

_'Fun' Facts: Cornetti are basically an Italian pastry filled with either marmalade, cream, or even chocolate, and is sometimes eaten for breakfast along with their espresso (or hot chocolate in the case of children). Apparently in Europe, they don't eat much (if anything) for breakfast._

_The title of this chapter is named after the song, Monster, by Skillet. I just discovered the song and felt that it fit the Spain in my story **extremely** well, so that explains that._

_Oh, and chapter 9 is on the way, thank you again for your patience and please review!~_


	9. Trust

_A/N: Hola!~ So...first off, I wanted to apologize for this chapter taking longer to upload than expected. I actually finished it two weeks ago but not in time for Lawn Kat to beta it, who was traveling and had no internet for all of that week and was unable to do so until recently, so I'm so sorry! *sigh* and then FanFiction wouldn't let me upload it for **days** for whatever stupid reason, GAH! *sulks in a corner* but then I found someone who figured out how to do it! Thank you kind person! This has been driving me absolutely **nuts** not to download this chapter ;-; anyway done with that mini-rant and moving on...I'm just going to stop promising things because I know that **I **hate it when people don't follow through with it..._

_Also, I mentioned it in the last chapter, but for those who didn't read it, it was basically saying how Mila Mai pointed out something to me that I realized could've been very confusing. She (I assume that you're a she, I'm sorry if you're not!) and others thought that the Second War in my story was WW2, which is not the case at all. As a result, I did the necessary changes and changed the name to the Second Contractor War (original, I know!). Anyway, here's the new chapter~  
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**Trust  
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"That was delicious!~ I'm really glad we went there, we should go again sometime. Oi! _¡__Querido!_ Do you think there's such a thing as tomato shampoo? Wouldn't that be great?~ I wonder if-"

I have to tune Spain out after that, he's simply talking too fast for me to understand as he babbles on and on about...tomato shampoo, was it? What the fuck!

I sigh, choosing to not call him out on such a stupid question and instead let my mind wander, watching him as he walks a bit ahead of me. I absentmindedly nod to him when he twirls around to face me, but he doesn't seem to mind my silence at all. Before he turns back around, I catch how his brilliant emerald eyes are clearly showing his enthusiasm on whatever he was currently talking about and that s-stupid...giant s-smile on his stupid...h-h-handsome face...

I inwardly groan, what the fuck is wrong with me? Why am I acting like some lovestruck, teenage girl, damnit!

I've been having these weird thoughts ever since last night when he somehow got in my room a-a-and h-he...I feel my face rapidly getting warmer, ugh, I can't even _think_ it. I mean, sure, I have never felt more grateful then when I woke up alone after having that e-extremely embarrassing..._dream._ But...for some reason, when he promised me that he wouldn't leave, and then he wasn't there when I woke up, I had felt incredibly cold, isolated...

_Betrayed_, almost.

Figures, right? I mean, Spain _is_ a Contractor. It was already extremely out of character that h-he..._comforted_ me like that; it wasn't even remotely logical. So what made me think that he would keep his promise? That's what I kept thinking of while I was sluggishly taking a shower and getting ready for the day. I must've been so engrossed in my thoughts because I didn't hear anything that was going on in my own damn apartment. So you can imagine my surprise when I found the said Spaniard in my kitchen making me breakfast, and _half-naked_ no less!

W-with water dripping down h-his...t-tanned, and _perfectly_ toned, u-upper body...

My face gets impossibly warmer at the way-too-pleasant mental image and I feel the need to slap myself..._hard_. Since when have I become such a motherfucking pervert! Especially towards that tomato _bastardo_?

"Eh! Are you alright, _querido_? You're face is all red again!"

I snap out of my rather embarrassing thoughts when Spain places a hand on my forehead, a concentrated look on his face. Before I can think of something to say, Spain slowly removes his hand so that he can cup my cheek, a slight frown on his face. Frowning really doesn't suit him...

"Maybe it _was_ a bad idea that we went to the aquarium..._lo siento, querido_," he whispers, before a sad-looking smile appears on his face. My mouth opens but nothing comes out, I don't know what to say. I-it was so _weird_...being cared for like this; like he was actually capable of being worried about me. I-I've...I've never been treated with such seeming affection by anyone other than my _fratellino_; not by Romulus, not by my parents...no one. And Spain looks so sincere about it, I...

I interrupt my own train of unrealistic thoughts and shake them from my head before slapping his hand away from me and briskly walking ahead, easily ignoring him when I hear him call out that fake name of mine.

What the fuck was I thinking? Spain is a _Contractor_, he doesn't care about me and he never will; it's as simple as that! That _bastardo _can never be trusted; it's in a Contractor's nature to only look out for themselves. Haven't I already learned of that the hard way in Greece? I'm just the guy who he's stuck with for the next six months, nothing more, nothing less. Besides, like I give a fucking shit that he can't care about me! I'm not even _capable_ of caring about something as trivial as that.

So...why does my body feel sick all of a sudden?

Ugh, I bet it's because of the pasta from that restaurant we just came from. Stupid _bastardo_, it wasn't an authentic Italian restaurant _at all_! But he insisted that it was good and that we should eat there, and I was _starving _so I had no choice, damnit! _That's it_! It _must_ be the pasta! _That's_ what's making me think these strange thoughts and making my stomach queasy...this is why I don't fucking go out to eat, damnit! Motherfucking Americans ruin everything, _especially_ when it comes to food! If you can even call it _that_!

Suddenly a hand gently grabs my arm, pulling me out of my thoughts and halting my body's movements. I whip my head around to glare at Spain, who has a strange look on his face. He was probably gonna complain about how 'uncute' I was being for 'someone so cute' or some shit like that. I'm not cute, damnit!

"You were about to walk into the telephone pole,_ querido_," he whispers instead, before slowly letting go of my arm. I immediately turn to look in front of me, seeing that he was indeed telling the truth and how a telephone pole was only a foot or so in front of me. My eyes widen in surprise and I blush at my carelessness, before quickly walking around it. We should almost be at the apartments anyway, and the sooner I can get away from the tomato _bastardo_ the better! With his fucking bubble-destroying closeness and his annoying hugs and his...g-gentle touches, and him a-actually..._licking_ me, a-and then him a-almost...uh...

My mind goes slightly blank due to where my thoughts have gone as I subconsciously lift a couple of fingers to touch my lips. His lips were so _close_ to mine, a-and his _scent_, I-I couldn't think straight...

And then that fucking brat _had_ to come and interrupt it. N-not that I was disappointed or anything!

…

Goddamnit all to motherfucking Hell! What the fuck was _in _that pasta, damnit!

"Uh..._querido_, we're here," Spain says as his voice, once again, returns me to reality. I look around and realize that we somehow went up the stairs and to our floor without me even being aware of it. Huh, how the fuck did _that_ happen. Finally noticing some pressure in my hand, I look down and see Spain's fingers intertwined with my own. Oh..._that's _how. I sputter and roughly pull my hand away from his while blushing madly, unable to say anything comprehensible as I look at anything that isn't Spain. After fumbling in my pocket for a few moments to get my keys, I finally grab them and am about to just open the door and get the fuck away, before I hear his voice. It's so soft that it's barely audible, and without thinking I turn around to face him. He's suddenly right in front of me...like, _right _there, a curious look on his face as his emerald eyes stare at my mouth like it was the most fascinating thing he's ever seen. My body refuses to move as I stare at him, my face getting impossibly hotter.

"W-w-wha-?" I start to stutter, my heart feeling like it might go into cardiac arrest while my mind goes completely blank due to Spain's scent now being all around me, making it impossible to think straight.

"Calm down, _querido_...I just want to try something...," he murmurs, gently cupping my face with one hand. He starts to rub his thumb along my cheek, the action somehow calming my frantic heart, though it was still beating pretty fast. Spain then slowly leans forward and my eyes instinctually close just as I feel something warm and gentle, touch my lips. Though his lips were slightly chapped, it felt really..._n-nice_. Spain's lips almost cautiously linger there, all the while his thumb continuing to rub my still burning cheek. We must've been like that for awhile because by the time his lips gradually leave my own, I noticed that my face had somewhat returned to its normal temperature. I immediately open my eyes when his lips are gone, only to see him smiling at me softly before he leans back in to place his forehead against my own.

"Ah, _lo siento_, Angelo...I couldn't resist, you just looked so cute whe-"

"Lovino."

"W-what?"

Spain moves his head back, his eyes blinking rapidly in confusion. I move my eyes to the side, unable to look at him, feeling myself blush when I realize what I exactly told him. I-It hadn't been _intentional_, it kinda just...came out. But strangely...I couldn't make myself care too much at the moment. I _wanted_ him to know...besides, it wouldn't hurt to just tell him my first name, right? It was a fairly common name in Italy anyway. What was really strange though, was when I finally realized _why _I told him part of my real name. I...I _wanted_ to trust Spain, even though I knew that it wouldn't end well at all for me. But despite knowing that, there was some part of me that wanted to be proven wrong, for _once_ in my life.

I _really_ wanted to trust him...

"My real name is Lovino," I elaborate, still unable to look at him.

"'Lovino', huh? What a beautiful name...," he whispers, making me look at him again. Looking at his eyes, I see something I've never seen in them before. There was just something _different_ about them...I-I've...I've never had anyone look at me like that before. They look so...soft, tender almost. The sight makes my heart flutter for some reason.

His smile starts changing into a goofy grin, but I'm still somewhat distracted by the softness that is still in his eyes. I wonder what he was thinking about...

"Ah, and you look just like a tomato too!~"

His comment immediately snaps me out of my daze and I don't have to even think about it when I punch the stupid _bastardo_ right in the gut, albeit not as hard this time.

Yepp...these strange thoughts were _definitely_ all the pasta's fault.

**Two weeks later...**

"Again," Spain commands, returning my staff by throwing it to me before walking away. Though I'm slightly out of breathe, I catch it with ease.

"I still don't fucking get why I need to do all this...you, yourself, said that I was already a master marksman with my pistols, and you already know that I can use my cello case if necessary...," I pant out, but nonetheless go back into the beginning stance that Spain showed me earlier.

"That may be...but it's always better to be prepared and to broaden your range," he responds calmly before stopping to turn and face me, mimicking my pose in one fluid motion. I remain in the same position, waiting for him to make the first move. Though Spain is about twenty feet away from me, I can still tell that he isn't moving a muscle; his face impassive as he stares at me, seemingly spacing out. But I knew better now: he was carefully analyzing me...studying the way my body moved while planning out his next assault. Spain is an _idiota_, there's no doubt in my mind about that. He's also an oblivious ass that couldn't read the atmosphere if his life depended on it. However, though I _hated_ to admit it, I knew that that didn't necessarily mean that he was stupid...at least when it came to the art of fighting.

Without warning, Spain dashes towards me with incredible speed, running in a straight line. I brace myself, holding my staff more firmly as I wait for any indication on what he's going to do next. When he gets close enough, I immediately move to block him with my staff, but as I soon as I move, he gracefully side steps to the left, attacking my now defenseless side. _Cazzo_! How the _fuck_ does he keep doing that?

I don't have time to react as his staff connects with my side, making me drop my staff in the process. Before I can register what's going on, I feel him quickly hit various parts of my legs, forcing me to drop down onto my knees. Despite that, my body was hardly in any pain. For some strange reason, Spain never hits me hard enough to cause anything more than the smallest pang of pain, choosing to use just enough force to hinder my movements. I soon feel pressure at the base of my throat, signaling my defeat _yet again_. Looking up at his face, I see Spain's impassive face turn into a full blown grin. I scowl, fucking tomato _bastardo_ with his stupid fucking knowledge on the stupidest weapons...

"You're improving, Lovi~" he says cheerfully before removing his staff and offering a hand to help me up. I let out an exasperated sigh at the nickname as I take his offered hand without hesitation, letting him pull me up.

"I should've never told you that, _bastardo_," I mutter while Spain just laughs in response. Ever since I told him my real name, he's been calling me 'Lovi~' every single chance he gets, and no matter what I do, he won't stop, damnit! I tried to make him a deal earlier today...where if I beat him in a duel using staves he wouldn't be allowed to call me that. I mean, in terms of hand-to-hand combat we were pretty damn close, and he didn't seem to be that much better at fighting with staves to begin with, so I figured that I could beat him, no problem, despite still being new at it myself. But that manipulative _bastardo_ was apparently holding back before, because after we made the deal, BAM! In one minute I was flat on my back. So now he's allowed to call me 'Lovi~' because I'm a man of my fucking word, damnit!

I let out a frustrated sigh at the deal and violently brush the excess dirt from my clothes; I know an abandoned warehouse was the most logical place to train, but still, why is there so much fucking dirt! I hear Spain laugh even louder when I do that, making me look at him so that I can properly glare at him. Though Spain has stifled his laughter, he is still smiling widely at me, completely unfazed by my expression.

"We _have _been training since this morning...so why don't we call it a day and get some din-"

Spain is interrupted when his cell phone goes off in his bag, the sound blaring throughout the entire warehouse. He immediately runs to his bag and opens it, rummaging around for it.

"Why do you have the volume so fucking loud?" I ask, simply watching him try to find it before we possibly get caught. It was actually quite amusing since his actions were overly dramatic in his search for the damn thing.

"It's because I _have_ to pick it up whenever it rings; it's my work phone and only the Union contacts me on it," he explains hastily before finding the phone, flipping it open as soon as he has it in his hands.

"_España_," he answers seriously before immediately brightening up. "Oh! _Hola_ Prussia~" he says, his voice becoming cheerful again when he realizes who it is. I roll my eyes, I wonder what the fucking bastard wanted now.

"I've actually just finished training with Romano and-," Spain starts saying before stopping suddenly, frowning a bit, "No, Prussia, I meant 'Romano', not Italy...anyway, we've just finished training and- no, we're still together...what...? Sure thing, we'll be there in a- what? Why? But can I at least-," Spain stops talking after that and listens intently to the phone. Whatever Prussia is saying, Spain starts to frown even more, obviously not liking what was being said one bit. I raise an eyebrow, what the fuck was going on?

"_Sí...entiendo_," Spain responds softly, before he quickly shuts the phone and puts it in his back pocket. He grabs his bag and lets out a huge sigh before finally turning to face me, the frown still on his face.

"_Lo siento, querido_, but Prussia says I am to head back to headquarters immediately," he says, trying to give me a small smile. I'm about to ask him what the fucking big deal is but he interrupts me, "For whatever reason, I have been ordered to come _alone_...and apparently I don't have enough time to give you a ride back to the apartment complex." The words quickly sink in and I groan when I realize what's going on. Fan-fucking-tastic!

Though I'm silent, I'm gritting my teeth when I head over to where Spain is and grab my cello case off the ground, being a little more forceful than necessary. I can't fucking believe I have to walk home, damnit! That's what? A three hour walk? Fucking shit...

I'm about to sling my cello case on when I suddenly feel a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist, pulling me backwards until my back was pressed against a firm chest. My body starts to feel extremely hot as I struggle to get out of Spain's grasp while blushing madly, demanding the _bastardo_ to let me go. His grip only tightens in response, though not enough to actually hurt me.

"What the fuck are yo-?"

"Be careful." His voice is so soft that I immediately stop struggling.

"W-what?" I stutter, unable to believe what I'm hearing. Did Spain just...?

"It's starting to get dark, and I don't like the idea of you walking home alone...just be careful, okay?" he breathes in my ear, tightening his grip for emphasis before he lets his chin rest on my shoulder. For some reason, his words make my body subconsciously relax.

"I'll be fine, tomato _bastardo_...I can take care of myself," I mumble, though it doesn't sound at all harsh like I originally intended it to be. I can feel and hear Spain laughing quietly.

"_Sí, sí_, I know...but still, if anything were to happen to you...," he says, trailing off before giving my body a small squeeze and adding jokingly, "Well...I guess I would just have to come rescue you, huh?"

Though Spain chuckles at that, there's a certain edge to his voice...it almost sounded like a promise. I ignore the fluttering feeling in my chest at the thought and harshly poke Spain's cheek, making the _bastardo_ abruptly stop laughing with a pained whine.

"Who says I need rescuing, _especially_ from you, tomato _bastardo_? You make me sound like some distressed princess or some shit like that..."

I swear, I could practically _hear_ him smile at that,

"But you are _mi princesa_, Lovi!~"

I can feel my face burn up at his words and I'm about to get out of his grasp to show him _exactly_ what I thought about being his 'princess'...preferably one where I crush his 'vital regions' to a bloody pulp! Before I can do anything productive however, he suddenly, but gently, turns me around to face him so that he can give me a soft peck on the lips. Like the first time, I'm unable to do or say anything else, all thoughts of revenge completely forgotten as soon as his lips touch mine. M-manipulative _bastardo_...

Spain slowly backs away to let out a sigh, begrudgingly letting go of me.

"But in all seriousness...I would do everything in my power to keep you safe, Lovino...," he promises solemnly, the intensity in his emerald eyes making my heart skip a beat, "But you're right, you're more than capable of taking care of yourself...so I'll see you when I'm done meeting Prussia, ¿_sí_?"

I feel myself blush even more as I grumble a 'whatever' and quickly sling my cello case over my shoulder so that I can leave the warehouse as quickly as fucking possible. Behind me, I hear Spain laugh loudly, the sound echoing all around us.

S-stupid_ bastardo_...

Thankfully, no one sees my face when I'm unable to stop myself from smiling slightly at his words.

**Three hours later...**

Walking, walking, walking, walking...

Still fucking walking...

Ugh...shouldn't I be there by now?

What the fuck?

Why is it that since coming to America, I always seem to be walking for hours, damnit!

I fucking _hate _walking...

And I fucking _hate_ Prussia!

More so now than I did before...which was _a lot_.

Other than the fact that the fucker was an arrogant _**stronzo**_, he refused to give me the promised information that may concern the whereabouts of my _fratellino_! That's part of the whole reason why I was here, damnit! Though Romulus did say that the lead was a long shot...still, what the fuck! How could that fucking bastard pretend like he had no idea what I was talking about? I was suppose to get the information from _him_, for fuck's sake! I tried to get him to tell me when I first arrived here, but the bastard had the fucking nerve to look confused, saying he never heard anything from his 'superiors' concerning that and had no idea on what I was talking about. Yeah, right...and France is a virgin who swore an oath of chastity. Fucking shit...

Now that I think about it...why haven't I pushed Prussia more for information? We weren't on a mission anymore so now would be the perfect time to do it, right? An image of Spain smiling flashes through my mind and I blush, r-right..._that's _why. I've been spending a lot of time with that _bastardo_, haven't I? I don't think there's been a _single _day that I haven't done _something_ with him since the mission, whether it was training or just spending time together doing...whatever the fuck the idiotic _bastardo_ wanted to do. I-It actually wasn't _that_ bad looking back on it...annoying as hell, yes, but it was also kinda well, uh, I mean...I groan and move a hand through my hair roughly, purposely ignoring my curl, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with me? W-whatever, it was probably nothing...either way, maybe I shouldn't hang out with Spain so much...after all, finding Feliciano was still my first priority...

And I refuse to let _anyone_ distract me from that, not even...not even Spain...

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I hear some soft rustling from behind me, the sound making me halt my movements. I stop breathing for a moment and listen carefully, straining my ears for any sound that could be out of place. However, the only things I can hear are a distant car here and there, but other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. I ignore the unpleasant feeling in the pit of my stomach and keep on walking, though I'm unable to completely relax now.

"It's been awhile...ten years I believe...?"

I stop and immediately turn my head towards the voice while tightening my grip on my cello case, my body tensing up in preparation for an attack. When my eyes land on the figure, my body freezes up and I'm unable to do anything but gape in pure shock. Though he looked much older, he still looked practically the same as I remember...his brown hair is still on the longer side and his olive eyes are as expressionless as his face.

"Heracles...," I mumble, still unable to fully comprehend what I was seeing. What the fuck is he doing here in America?

"Lovino...," he responds, giving me the smallest hint of a smile while I continue to simply stare at him, "It really has been a long time...how have you been...? Good, I hope...?"

My face immediately turns into a scowl at his words, getting over my initial shock. I know now that Heracles is a Contractor, but I can't believe that that bastard actually had the fucking _nerve _to act like nothing happened...like he actually cared about how I've been! He made it painfully clear last time on what he thought of me. I'm not the same naïve child anymore, I refuse to trust this fucker again...

"Dumbass! We were suppose to ambush the brat, not make small talk!"

I turn my head to the direction of the new voice, which happens to be from somewhere above me. When I look up, I see a man crouched on top of a telephone pole, wearing what looked to be a green long sleeved cloak, an irritated look on his face. I was unable to see his whole face though, a hood covering his hair while a simple white mask covers his eyes. Heracles softly sighs besides me,

"I don't see the harm in talking with an old friend...besides, by all means, you could've captured him while he was distracted...moron..."

"What did you say!"

"You heard me..."

"Why, you little-!"

I can't help but close my eyes and try to block out their bickering, my face twitching uncontrollably as they continue back and forth. You can't be fucking serious...

"Enough!" the masked man yells suddenly, followed by a loud flapping sound before hearing something softly land behind me. Opening my eyes, I instinctually turn around, prepared to use my cello case on the fucker's face, but there was no one there. I quickly look around but am unable to find him, only seeing Heracles where he stood before. Where the fuck did that guy go? Damnit...

As if to answer my question, I see slight movement to my right and I jump away from it, trying to create some distance from him. _Cazzo_, he was fast! Not a second after I moved, something powerful crashes into my arm at an odd angle, forcing me to let go of my cello case. I can't help but cry out as I feel the force of the blow snapping the bones in my arm. As soon as the case is out of my hand, my arms are being roughly bound to my chest, the fast action twisting my broken arm while making it impossible for me to effectively use my power. The whole time I can feel my bones trying to readjust and heal themselves, but the fast movement and the angle my arm was now in was making that impossible, instead sending me wave after wave of pain as it repeatedly tries to heal itself. A damp piece of clothe is suddenly covering my mouth, muffling the rest of my pained screams as an arm tightly holds me in place. I violently struggle to get out of the man's hold but my vision begins to drastically get blurry, my strength fading away fast. My body's struggles become weaker and weaker until finally, my body becomes completely numb and I'm unable to move anymore.

"Good boy...," the man murmurs, his hold still tight even though my body has ceased moving. I try to stay conscious, desperately fighting the effects that the Chloroform was having on me. _Cazzo_, how did they know to use a heavier dose...? Goddamnit...

"You didn't have to be so rough on him...Turkey...," Heracles chides calmly, the sound of his footsteps coming closer to us.

My mind becomes somewhat alert at the man's name, now more confused than ever. 'Turkey'? Is that a codename? Isn't that a country or something? Then that would mean he's a part of Dawn's Union, right? Wait...why the fuck is an agent of the Union even doing this? What was Heracles doing here for that matter? Is he part of the Union now? Are they partners?

What the fuck is going on?

The man who's holding me laughs bitterly in response but doesn't say anything, or maybe I'm unable to hear him properly anymore. As my vision starts to fade, I can't help but think of Spain when all of a sudden, Elizabeta's voice violently cuts through my mind.

_Because deep down, you __**know **__everyone who you've ever trusted will betray you eventually, no matter what you say or do._

My chest starts to feel excruciating pain at her words, but I knew that other than my broken arm, I was physically fine. That's when I finally understood...Spain wouldn't come looking for me, nor would he care to. Like Heracles, he would eventually betray me too...it was only a matter of time. Besides...even if he _could_ care about me, why would he? Other than Feliciano, no one's ever truly cared about me...and even _he_ didn't after becoming a Contractor, so what made me think that Spain would be any different?

Those were my final thoughts before everything completely faded to black.

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_A/N: Okay, so I know Romano was a bad-ass in past chapters, but let's be completely honest people...this is **Romano** we're talking about here. He has to be kidnapped at least once!~_

_'Fun' Fact: I actually **did** look it up and tomato shampoo **does** exist!~ How awesome is that? Haha~ I kinda wanna buy it now...just so I can baffle people with its awesomeness!_

_Anyway! Thank you again for reading and support~_


	10. Swan Song

_A/N: Okay! First off, after I'm done posting this I'll work on making all the proper corrections to the past chapters in terms of certain translations (thank you, 'advice from Italy'!~ Though, I **am **sorry that I seemed to make you so upset with the errors...), so I hope that everything is alright this time around. Also, I'm sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but I also have a lot of last year projects/etc. that I need to do for college since summer is almost here and such. So thank you for your patience and here's the new chapter~_

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**Swan Song**

"So...can you explain to me _now_ why I need to be here?" I ask after a painfully long silence, my head leaned back in the chair that's across from Prussia's desk as I stare up at the various lines that littered the ceiling. Huh...you know...that one _kinda_ looks like a tomato if I move my head _a little_ to the left and squint _really_ hard...

But then again, they all kinda look like tomatoes when I do that...

I hear Prussia let out a frustrated sigh.

"_Gott_, Spain, I've already told you a thousand times! Just shut the hell up and remain here until the awesome me says so," he replies in an annoyed tone. I groan and tilt my head forward a bit so that I can get a better look at Prussia, who was leaning back in his chair with his feet on his desk, cleaning the barrel of a rather strange looking pistol.

"But we've been just sitting here for the past two hours!" I whine loudly, if I had known that I was going to just sit here and do nothing, I would've just gone ahead and given _mi tomate_ a ride back to the apartment complex!

"I said shut up!" he snaps, making me pout, though I remain silent nonetheless. Prussia's not making any sense today...he was so adamant on the phone earlier, saying how I had to be here as soon as possible, and to no way drop Lovino back at the apartment complex. He was _especially_ particular about that part...

Sighing, I look past Prussia and into the city, staring out at the various lights of the surrounding office buildings. I frown when I think about how Lovino is walking home alone in that same city. Though New York City was truly a beautiful city at night, it wasn't exactly known for being one of the safest...I hope he makes it back home safely, maybe I should've asked him to call me when he got there? I shake the absurd thoughts from my head, no, Lovino will be fine. From what he's shown me during training, in terms of hand-to-hand combat, we're _somewhat_ on an equal level, as I _do_ have the advantage of experience over him. Not only that, he's a master marksman with his pistol, able to shoot any target that he's given, whether it's moving or otherwise. Though, now that I'm thinking about it, why _does_ Lovino carry around three pistols? It still puzzles me greatly if I think about it...he would only tell me that it was for 'when things got bad'...or something like that. I honestly can't remember his_ exact _words, but I guess he just has a third pistol in case he loses one of his other ones during combat...? That doesn't make any sense though! I can't help but pout, now I'm _really_ curious as to why he has _three_...maybe I can ask him more about that later?

"You've been spending a lot of time with Italy lately, haven't you?" Prussia 's voice asks all of a sudden, pulling me out of my thoughts and to look at him again, "I haven't seen you at all since Mission Silesia was completed." I can't help but laugh loudly.

"I thought you wanted me to be quiet~," I tease, unable to stop myself from laughing when I watch Prussia's face twitch as he looks at me, his pistol laying forgotten in his hands.

"Just answer the damn question already!" he demands, his face still twitching now and then. I finally was able to stifle my laughter and stick my tongue out at him in response, well, someone's in a bad mood!~ When Prussia's expression doesn't change at all, my laughter finally dies down and I give up, sighing in defeat. Why is Prussia being so serious today? That's no fun...

"I've been training him," I answer finally, frowning at Prussia's serious demeanor, "Just like you ordered me to."

"Every day for the past two weeks?" Prussia asks skeptically, raising an eyebrow at me as he moves to sit up straight in his seat.

"Well, he's a good fighter, but he's too limited in the range of weapons he can use," I lie without hesitation. Prussia didn't exactly _need _to know that all those times I skipped out on drinking with him and France were due to more than just mission training with Lovino...

"Don't lie to me, _Spanien_!" Prussia snaps harshly, slamming his hand on the desk. I stare at Prussia, more than a bit caught off guard with how...angry he looks. I've never seen him _this_ angry before, especially at me. Then again...maybe his human emotions are finally catching up to him, it's easy to forget that Prussia isn't a Contractor anymore.

"What reason would I have to lie to you?" I ask lightly, recovering quickly while making myself chuckle, "In what way would it even benefit me?"

"Don't fucking play games with me! I _know_ what you've really been doing with that fucking brat for the past two weeks!" Prussia yells, making me immediately stop laughing. I narrow my eyes at him, not liking how he's referring to Lovino...no, I didn't like that one bit...

"I would appreciate it if you didn't call Romano that," I mutter lowly, my voice terse, "Besides, what makes you so sure that I'm even lying to you to begin with?" Prussia laughs at that, though it just sounds extremely forced coming from him.

"That Lovino kid really_ did_ mess with your head, didn't he?" Prussia asks bitterly, ignoring my question and now refusing to look me in the eye, "I can't fucking believe this shit..."

"What are you talking about? No one did _anything_ to me, especially Romano. And you didn't answer my question, what-," I immediately stop talking, something he said finally catching my attention. My eyebrows furrow in confusion as I stare curiously at Prussia, "Wait...how do you know Romano's real name? I never told you, and I _know_ that it wasn't on his Union file, so there's no way that you could have known that..."

Prussia's eyes widen in surprise and he snaps his head towards me, his mouth slightly open though nothing comes out. But before he can say anything in response, there's suddenly an urgent knock on the door. Not a second passes before I hear the sound of it immediately being opened. My body automatically turns to face the door and I see France, walking in a little before closing the door behind him, staring intently at a clipboard in his hand. His normally neatly combed hair is a ragged mess for once, a look akin to pure panic on his face.

"_La Prusse_, do you know the meaning of this?" France asks quickly, still not looking up as his eyes travel across the clipboard over and over again, "Why have Turkey and Greece been dispatched by our superiors to not only kidnap Italy at the apartment complex, but to 'observe Spain's reaction if he is present'? I haven't been able to talk to him properly since the last mission, but if my suspicions are correct, _Espagne_ absolutely can _not _find out about this! We need to-," France stops talking when he finally looks up, his eyes widening when they immediately lock onto my own.

"Oh, _merde_...," he mutters as he stares at me, the room completely silent. I'm unable to move or say anything, my mind starting to process the information as the words slowly sink in. Turkey...I remember him...we were both in the same training group for the Union's interrogation squad. But then...if _he's_ on the team that is kidnapping Lovino, then that must mean that the Union probably wants Turkey to...

The realization causes my chest to constrict rather painfully to the point where I'm having difficult breathing, but despite that, I will my hands to move to the armrests of the chair in order to push myself up, my thoughts going a mile a minute. I needed to catch up to Lovino and prevent this from happening and fast. If what France said was indeed true, then Lovino hasn't encountered them yet, as they plan to ambush him at the apartment complex, meaning there was still time. Maybe I could catch him before Greece and Turkey caught up wit-

BANG!

My body immediately tenses and I slowly look down, seeing a thin, rod-like object poking through my shirt, blood starting to seep through as I stare at it in disbelief. Strangely, there wasn't any pain...despite being able to feel it go all the way through my shoulder's muscles. What the...?

"_La Prusse_!" France cries, making me back look up to face Prussia, who was aiming the strange pistol from before at me, smoke coming out of the barrel.

"You really _have_ changed...the Spain _I_ knew wouldn't let his guard down so easily," Prussia mutters, his face impassive as he stares at me evenly before finally lowering the gun, "That brat's power is truly something to have changed you so much..." I can't think of anything to say in response, my body starting to feel increasingly disconnected from the world around me.

"What...what is this...?" I mutter in disbelief, my body...it feels so..._odd_...it's becoming too hard to _think_ straight...

I turn to face the rod in my shoulder, instinctually going to grab it in my hand to forcibly remove it, knowing that whatever it was I needed to get it out _now_. However, as soon as I grab onto it, an unexplainable wave of pain courses throughout my entire body, forcing me to fall on my hand and knees as my vision starts to become blurry from the pain, the shock itself keeping me from removing my hand. I grit my teeth at the pain, but otherwise remain silent. I _refuse_ to let this break me...I _can't_...

Lovino...I _have_ to get to-

"What have you done to him!" I hear France's voice demand, before I faintly hear something clank on the ground behind me, someone now moving me back on something sturdy as a support so that they can forcibly pry my hand away from the rod, immediately halting the pain from coursing through my body. I gasp in a ragged breath as my vision begins to clear up, allowing me to see France in front of me, his head turned to face Prussia who was still at his desk behind him.

"Don't be so dramatic, France," Prussia answers simply, moving his pistol with one hand to set it down on his desk, "It's not like that will be able to kill him anyway, it's just there so he won't interfere with the Union's plans. Besides, I'm only doing what is necessary. You can't tell me that you didn't notice the change in him either?"

"___Me cago en tus muertos_...," I mutter darkly, glaring at Prussia as I start to feel the familiar warmth in my chest. There was something else powerful bubbling up alongside it...though, I had no idea what it was. But I knew one thing for sure: I wanted Prussia to suffer...I wanted him to burn in agony for whatever he did to me, I wanted him dead! How dare he try to keep me away from Lovino! He_ will_ pay for this! But as soon as the familiar warmth starts to spread, I feel a slight pang of pain in my shoulder as a small warning before an indescribable pain courses through my veins, making me cry out. I couldn't move, couldn't see, couldn't _hear_ anything besides my own screams. It felt like my entire body was disintegrating...slowly being eaten alive by thousands of insects. I could practically_ feel_ them all crawling underneath my skin, moving around as they greedily tore into whatever they could reach, sparing nothing behind as they devoured my muscles and organs...I've never _felt_ such pain before...

This _pain_...even the pain of turning into a Contractor was _nothing_ in comparison to this...

Without any warning the pain abruptly stops, my body now feeling completely drained of all life. I couldn't move even if I wanted to, nor could I feel _anything_ anymore...all my senses felt so dulled...numb...

I feel so _tired_...

Lovino...I...

"_Espagne_! Are you alright?"

My head is suddenly being lifted up, forcing me look at the face of a panicked-looking France through half-opened eyes.

"_Mon ami_?" he asks, watching my face carefully. I don't respond, continuing to just stare at him blankly.

_Lo siento, mi querido..._

"Your eyes look so dead...," France whispers, staring at me with an expression that I couldn't decipher, "I haven't seen that look in your eyes since-"

"He's fine, France," Prussia's voice interrupts, cutting France off, "Spain's part of the Union's interrogation squad, remember? Pain is something he can handle all too well." France instantly snaps his head around to face Prussia.

"How can you honestly _believe_ that? Look at him!" France barks, gesturing to me with a slight nod of his head, "Even _**Espagne**_ has his limits, I wouldn't be surprised if you broke him!"

"You're being ridiculous! Spain's fine!"

"I can't believe how utterly _dense_ you can be! Do you honestly-?"

"Enough of this! I'm not going to argue with you! Just use your power on him to make him complacent for a while and to forget," Prussia's voice snaps, cutting France off, "If you have to use your Contract on him, do it."

"_La Prusse_, are you seriously asking me to-?"

"That's a direct order," Prussia states coldly, cutting him off again, "Why are you getting so worked up about this anyway? You and Spain are _Contractors_, so fucking _act_ like one already or join him!" It's silent for a long moment until France sighs quietly, before he slowly turns to face me again, his expression completely unreadable.

"Forgive me, _mon ami_...," France whispers, his eyes now glowing a bright red as he moves his lips closer to mine. I can only watch helplessly as France's lips touch mine, darkness quickly starting to invade my field of vision. My conscious starts to slip away and before I know it, I get swallowed up whole by that same darkness.

_Lo siento_, Lovino...

* * *

_A/N: Please don't hate me **too** much, kind, **kind**, readers, hahaha...ha...~ *cowers in corner*_

_Translation:_

___Me cago en tus muertos- I shit on your dead (apparently an ____**extremely**____ offensive thing to say in Spanish)_


End file.
